Supporters of Rhoma Irama have said that the self-styled king of dangdut
would be better off leaving the National Awakening Party (PKB) after a
lack of certainty regarding his potential presidential candidacy from
the Islamic-based party.
Rhoma’s official group of supporters,
known as Rhoma Irama for Presiden RI (Riforri), said on Saturday that
the singer had decided to withdraw his support from the PKB if the party
did not nominate him as a presidential candidate.
“The first
thing is to withdraw support if the PKB does not fulfill the agreement
that was [previously] agreed on to nominate Haji Rhoma Irama for
president in the 2014 [election],” Riforri head Shechan Shahab said at
the organization’s headquarters in Cawang, East Jakarta.
The
threat has come in spite of the PKB having three potential presidential
candidates, namely former vice president Jusuf Kalla, former
Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD and Rhoma.
The PKB
has previously said that the decision about which potential candidate it
would nominate would be made after the legislative election on April 9.
However, based on quick count results, the PKB only managed to
secure 9 percent of the vote in the legislative election, meaning it did
not meet the threshold of 25 percent needed to nominate its own
presidential candidate without forming a coalition with other parties.
Therefore,
the PKB has offered to form an alliance with the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P) by putting forward a candidate to fill the
vice presidential position, an offer it said was reasonable due to its
own good performance in the legislative election.
The candidate
that the PKB offered was its party chairman, Muhaimin Iskandar, saying
that he was the party’s strongest vice presidential candidate and that
there was a general consensus on the choice within the party.
The
PKB also reasoned that, if Muhaimin was endorsed as a vice presidential
candidate, then he would be able to manage his staff directly in the
House of Representatives.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI) political observer Siti Zuhro said that the absence of Rhoma in
the PKB would not make a bit difference now that the legislative
election was over. “Rhoma’s role in the past was to make the PKB’s image
more down-to-earth, but not in the context of presidential election,”
she told The Jakarta Post, adding that the dangdut singer was successful
in igniting people’s interest in the PKB.
However, Siti added
that it was unethical for the PKB to nominate its chairman instead of
one of its other three potential candidates, especially since the party
is Islamic-based, and considering Rhoma’s contribution to the party’s
electability in the legislative election.
“A party should not
just orientate itself on power. It should have idealism. Not to mention
that the PKB is an Islamic party, which puts morality at the forefront,”
she said. “But that’s the risk of politics. You can be pushed aside.”
While
the Riforri claimed that Rhoma had agreed to quit the PKB if there was
no clarity on the horizon, the dangdut king declined to explain his own
stance on the matter.
Instead, Rhoma said that his fans felt
that he was merely being used by the PKB to garner votes, and that they
also felt it was unethical for the party not to nominate one of its
three potential presidential candidates.
“According to the
political contract, the PKB does not have an obligation to nominate
Rhoma anymore [because it failed to pass the presidential threshold].
But aside from the political contract, there is a thing called political
ethics,” he said in an interview on Saturday. “Therefore, it is only
natural for [my supporters] to ask me to quit the PKB.”
Rhoma’s campaign team head Ramdansyah, meanwhile, said that Rhoma was still a member of the PKB as of Saturday.
“When
Rhoma met Ical on Thursday, he asked for permission from Cak Imin,”
Ramdansyah told the Post, referring to Golkar Party chairman Aburizal
Bakrie and Muhaimin, respectively. “When he returned from the meeting,
he also reported it to Cak Imin. It shows that Rhoma is still loyal to
Cak Imin.”
Comment :
I think A party should not just orientate itself on power. It should have idealism. Not to mention that the PKB is an Islamic party, which puts morality at the forefront, But that’s the risk of politics. Therefore, the PKB has offered to form an alliance with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) by putting forward a candidate to fill the vice presidential position, an offer it said was reasonable due to its own good performance in the legislative election.
The PKB also reasoned that, if Muhaimin was endorsed as a vice presidential candidate, then he would be able to manage his staff directly in the House of Representatives. According to the political contract, the PKB does not have an obligation to nominate Rhoma anymore [because it failed to pass the presidential threshold]. But aside from the political contract, there is a thing called political ethics. Therefore only natural for supporters to ask Rhoma to quit the from PKB.
sumber :
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/04/28/rhoma-should-ditch-pkb-supporters-say.html
