(MENAFN- Asia Times) JAKARTA – For the best part of a year, Defense Minister and Great Indonesian Movement Party leader Prabowo Subianto had kept National Awakening Party (PKB) coalition partner Muhaimin Iskander dangling over whether he would choose him as his running mate for next February's presidential election.
Together, the two parties had more than the 20% of parliamentary seats necessary to nominate Prabowo as a candidate, but with the Golkar and National Mandate (PAN) parties recently joining Prabowo's campaign team, Iskander finally lost his usefulness. And he knew it.
That was when wily National Democrat Party (Nasdem) leader and media baron Surya Paloh pounced, luring Iskander away to join opposition candidate Anies Baswedan in a move that left observers wondering to what extent President Joko Widodo had a role in bringing it about – and why.
Still unexplained is what happened at meetings in the days beforehand between the president and the bearded businessman, who was the first senior politician to endorse Widodo in 2014 and again to turn his back on their ruling coalition and surprisingly throw his support behind Baswedan earlier this year.
The pair first met on July 18 during which Paloh acknowledged that the president inquired about Baswedan's prospective choice of a running mate, but he did not go into further detail. Iskander again was the topic when they met at the palace on August 31, two days before Baswedan's vice president announcement.
The strange twist in events, coming shortly before next month's formal registration of candidates, raised more questions than it answered over the game the ever-popular Widodo may be playing behind the scenes to extend his influence beyond the day he steps down after his two-term limit in October next year.
As a nominal member of Megawati Sukarnoputri's ruling Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), Widodo has already raised eyebrows by failing to openly support PDI-P candidate Ganjar Pranowo, who recently ended his decade-long term as governor of Central Java.
Ganjar Pranowo will carry the ruling PDI-P's banner at next year's presidential election. Image: Twitter
Indeed, given the tensions between the president and Megawati, there is widespread speculation that Prabowo spurned Iskander because he has his eyes on State Enterprise Minister Erik Thohir, a close Widodo aide, as his vice presidential candidate.
Nominally linked to PAN, Thohir, 53, is a wealthy businessman well known for successfully staging the 2018 Asian Games and to many young soccer-mad voters as chairman of the Indonesian Football Association.
Even Widodo has felt compelled to address his fence-sitting, seemingly irritated at the way politicians – Prabowo included – have suggested they need his approval before making any moves that will impact on the race to choose his successor.
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