While Sandiaga Uno didn’t have the hiccups that supposedly kept him off stage when Prabowo Subianto claimed “victory” for the first time on Wednesday, the expression on his face during Prabowo’s second victory declaration on Thursday was so dramatically unenthusiastic that it quickly launched hundreds of “Sad Sandiaga” memes.
That obviously led to speculation that Sandiaga, who many believe is eyeing a presidential run in 2024, was unhappy to be seen supporting Prabowo’s unsubstantiated claims of victory (which are completely contradicted by the quick counts done by independent pollsters as well as the results of the ongoing real count) as it could damage his image in the eyes of his potential electorate.
But today, Sandiaga claimed to have not only recovered from his hiccups and other maladies (he was supposedly diagnosed with a stomach disorder and inflammation of the throat by a doctor on Friday) but said he was ready to keep up his campaign’s struggle.
While meeting with several of his campaign’s officials today at their media center in Jakarta, Sandiaga said that he was healthy and ready to fight.
“Thank you, to the representatives that have gathered here, I can report that I am now 100% ready, the struggle is not yet complete,” Sandiaga said as quoted by Detik.
“Our work is not yet finished, we will make sure that our campaign spokespeople can deliver positive news and we are optimistic that we are guarding the C1 forms (which contains the tally in each voting station), none of these steps should be overlooked,” explained the would-be VP,
Despite Sandiaga’s seemingly reinvigorated fighting spirit, he was careful not to declare victory for his ticket as Prabowo did, nor attack the pollsters or the government for being biased, as Prabowo has.
Assuming that the results of the real vote count continue to back up the quick count results and Jokowi is officially declared victorious (the General Election Commission has until May 22 to finalize the results), Sandiaga could potentially become the deputy governor of Jakarta — a position he quit to become Prabowo’s running mate — as no statute bars him from doing so and the position remains vacant.
But whatever he chooses to do, it will be hard for many Indonesians to forget Sandiaga’s willingness to back Prabowo’s incredibly unrealistic claims to victory. At least, for a while. But in another five years, who knows?
