Asman Abnur Quits Jokowi Cabinet as PAN Joins Prabowo Camp
Jakarta. Asman Abnur has resigned from his position as bureaucratic reform minister after his National Mandate Party, or PAN, decided to support Prabowo Subianto's candidacy in the 2019 presidential election, a party official said on Tuesday (14/08).
Prabowo, founder and chairman of the opposition Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), announced his candidacy on Thursday last week, when he also picked Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno as his running mate.
The candidate pair, also supported by the Democratic Party and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), will compete against incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his running mate, Ma'ruf Amin.
"I have communicated with him [Asman] after the finalization of the presidential election registration process and after PAN's decision to endorse Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno as presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Asman requested permission to resign from Jokowi's cabinet," PAN deputy chairman Viva Mauladi told reporters on Tuesday, as reported by Suara Pembaruan.
He said Asman resigned because he does not want to burden the Jokowi administration as PAN's political views differ from those of the governing coalition.
Asman has met with State Secretary Pratikno to submit his resignation and the president has accepted it, Viva said.
Asman was inaugurated on July 27, 2016 as PAN's only minister in President Jokowi's cabinet.
He served as deputy mayor of Batam in the Riau Islands between 2001 and 2004 and became a member of the House of Representatives in 2014.
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