Jokowi’s Past and Present Remarks on a ‘Two-Term Prabowo-Gibran Presidency’ Compared
Indonesia’s seventh president, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), has recently struck a different tone on the prospect of Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka running together in the 2029 presidential election, saying that discussion of the election is premature.
In September 2025, Jokowi openly acknowledged that he had instructed volunteers from Bara JP to support a second term for the Prabowo-Gibran administration. He said he had given the instruction from the outset.
“From the beginning, I told all the volunteers to do that [support Prabowo-Gibran for two terms],” Jokowi said when asked about Bara JP volunteers’ statement that they had been directed to support a second term, detikJateng reported on Friday (19 September 2025).
At the time, Jokowi stressed that he had indeed instructed the volunteers to support the Prabowo-Gibran administration.
“Yes, I did instruct them to support President Prabowo-Gibran’s administration for two terms,” he said.
However, when asked whether Prabowo and Gibran might run again in the 2029 presidential election, Jokowi declined to elaborate.
“[Do you support them for two terms?] I told the volunteers that, because they asked,” he concluded.
A similar account was given in June 2026 by Bestari Barus, a member of the Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI). Bestari said Jokowi had asked PSI members and supporters to stand behind President Prabowo Subianto and Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
“He told us that we were being asked to support Prabowo-Gibran, even for two terms. So the allegations about there being ‘two suns’ are slander. How can there be two suns? It’s ridiculous,” Bestari told reporters on Friday (18 June 2026).
Bestari said Jokowi delivered the message during a meeting in Solo. He said Jokowi had urged them to maintain harmony and support the Prabowo-Gibran administration.
“He also left me with a message today: maintain harmony internally. And remind our colleagues wherever they are to support the Prabowo-Gibran pair—whatever this talk of another sun is about,” he said.
Jokowi now says the election is still a long way off
More recently, Jokowi made a different remark when asked about supporting a second Prabowo-Gibran term, saying that the election was still a long way off.
“The election is still a long way off,” Jokowi said, detikJateng reported on Friday (9 October 2026). He was responding to a question about whether he supported Prabowo-Gibran for a second term.
Pressed further, Jokowi repeated that the election was still far away. He said everyone was currently working for the public.
“2029 is still a long way off. Everyone should get on with their work, whether in politics or government—work for the people,” he said.