JAKARTA: A 90s rock star behind President Joko Widodo’s successful campaigns left Indonesia’s biggest telecommunications firm to back a presidential candidate ahead of next month’s elections.
Abdi Negara Nurdin (pic), rock band Slank’s guitarist, resigned as independent commissioner of state-owned PT Telkom Indonesia to join his band in performing at rallies and crafting a song titled "Metal Salute” for presidential hopeful Ganjar Pranowo. Slank did the same for Jokowi’s - as the incumbent is popularly known - campaigns in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
Slank’s move underlines some voters’ disappointment in Jokowi. The president is widely seen as having shifted his favour to Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, from Ganjar, by letting his eldest son run as Prabowo’s vice-presidential candidate. Jokowi has faced criticism of dynasty politics, given his son’s VP bid was only made possible by a contentious court ruling presided by his brother-in-law.
The band chose to support Ganjar, who is trailing behind the other two candidates in recent polls, out of concern the president may influence the race to secure a successor, The Jakarta Post cited Abdi as saying. "We need to keep democracy alive,” he told the newspaper. - Bloomberg
