Indonesia's NasDem party endorses Jakarta governor for 2024 presidential race
JAKARTA- Indonesia's fifth-largest political party NasDem on Monday announced that it is backing outgoing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan as its candidate for the
2024 presidential election.
Mr Anies has consistently ranked among the top three possible contenders to lead the world's third-largest democracy, according to opinion polls, alongside Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo and Defence Minister and ex-special forces general, Prabowo Subianto.
Mr Nasdem Chairman Surya Paloh said he had spent months deliberating on the party's preferred candidate and ultimately decided that Mr Anies was the best choice.
Mr Anies accepted the endorsement and said he was ready to "walk together" with the party, which in the 2019 parliamentary election won about 9% of the national vote.
At the time NasDem did not pass the required threshold to put forward a candidate alone, meaning it will have to form a coalition with other parties to formally nominate a candidate for 2024.
Presidential candidates are not required to officially register with the country's election body until October next year.
But with incumbent President Joko Widodo constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, intense jockeying is getting underway over who will next lead the world's fourth most-populous country.
Elected as Jakarta governor in 2017, Mr Anies faced criticism at the time for his perceived closeness to hardline Islamic groups.
Mass rallies held by those groups catalysed the downfall of Mr Anies' political rival and then-governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or "Ahok," an ethnic Chinese, Christian politician who was later imprisoned on blasphemy charges for insulting Islam. REUTERS
Outgoing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has consistently ranked among the top three possible contenders. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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Anies Baswedan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anies Rasyid Baswedan (born 7 May 1969) is an Indonesian academic, activist, and politician who is currently serving as the
Governor of Jakarta since 2017, as an Independent. A student activist and political analyst before entering public service, he served as rector of Paramadina University before being appointed to be
Minister of Education and Culture in
Joko Widodo administration. He is also the founder of
Indonesia Mengajar, a program that selects, trains, and assigns university graduates to serve in a one-year teaching mission across the country. He is the grandson of nationalist, journalist, and freedom fighter
Abdurrahman Baswedan, and the cousin of
Novel Baswedan.
[2][3][4]
Early life and family
Anies Rasyid Baswedan was born on 7 May 1969, in
Kuningan,
West Java. His father was Rasyid Baswedan, an ethnic
Hadhrami-
Javanese. While his mother was Aliyah Rasyid, an ethnic
Sundanese mother. His grandfather,
Abdurrahman Baswedan, was a prominent
Arab-Indonesian activist who served as a cabinet minister during the
Indonesian National Revolution.
[5][6]
Education
Anies grew up in
Yogyakarta, attending SMP Negeri 5 and SMA Negeri 2 Yogyakarta. In 1987, he spent one year as an
AFS Intercultural Programs exchange student in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
[7] He returned to Indonesia, and enrolled at
Gadjah Mada University, spending a summer attending Summer Session of Asian Studies at
Sophia University in
Tokyo, and graduating with a degree in business management. As a
Fulbright Scholar, he went to receive his
M.P.M. in international security and economic policy from the
University of Maryland School of Public Policy (where he was a William P. Cole III Fellow), and Ph.D. in political science from
Northern Illinois University, where he was a Gerald S. Maryanov Fellow.
[8]
Paramadina University rector
On 15 May 2007, he was appointed
rector (equivalent of
president) of
Paramadina University, a private university in Jakarta. He succeeded
Nurcholish Madjid (commonly referred to as Cak Nur), a prominent
liberal Muslim intellectual and
scholar who had served as rector since the university's founding in 1998. He became the youngest rector of an Indonesian university, at 38.
[9] As rector, Anies established Paramadina Fellowship and included anti-corruption education in the core curriculum, first of its kind in the country.
Indonesia Mengajar
Anies rose to national prominence in 2009 when he initiated
Indonesia Mengajar (Indonesia Teaching) foundation, a nationwide program that selects, trains, and assign university graduates to serve in a one-year teaching mission across the country. The program was established in response of unequal quality of education in Indonesia, particularly in the poor and rural parts of the archipelago.
[10][11] Anies remained in the leadership until 2013, when he resigned in order to pursue his political career.
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