Prabowo’s niece to run for deputy mayor in South Tangerang race
Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo, a former TV presenter and legislator who is also a niece of Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, has been nominated as the deputy mayor candidate in the upcoming regional election in South Tangerang, Banten.Rahayu, a politician of the Gerindra Party that her uncle chairs, has been paired with incumbent South Tangerang administrative secretary Muhamad in their mayoral bid with the endorsement of Gerindra and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).Prabowo announced the candidate pair on Monday evening at his residence, with PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto in attendance. “May they [Muhamad and Rahayu] fight hard to defend and prioritize the interests of the people, as well as the progress and welfare of the people of South Tangerang,” said the former 2014 and 2019 presidential candidate as quoted by kompas.com.Read also: PDI-P recommends Prabowo’s niece for South Tangerang mayoral raceRahayu is the daughter of Prabowo’s youngest brother, businessman Hashim Djojojadikusumo. She previously served in the 2014-2019 session of the House of Representatives but failed to secure a seat in her 2019 reelection bid.Following the announcement, Gerindra South Tangerang executive chair Li Claudia Candra told tribunnews.com that she had called on all members and supporters of the party to promote the mayoral candidates.Meanwhile, executive chair Wanto Sugito of PDI-P’s South Tangerang branch said that the mayoral pair should expect the party to issue its official recommendation letter this week, noting that Hasto’s presence at the announcement signaled the party’s green light.Wanto also made assurances that the Hanura Party would join “the coalition” soon.Combined, the three parties have 17 seats in the South Tangerang Legislative Council, which meets the minimum 20 percent requirement – or 10 of the total 50 council seats – for a party to nominate a candidate.Read also: ‘Is it because I’m a woman?’: Gerindra lawmaker fumes over prayer reading snubEarlier, Hanura had said that it would support Muhamad’s pairing with a running mate from the Indonesia Solidarity Party. On Monday, however, executive chair Amar of Hanura’s South Tangerang branch said the party had shifted its support to Rahayu, as reported by tribunnews.com.South Tangerang municipality is among the 270 regencies and municipalities slated to elect their new leaders in the simultaneous regional elections in December. The city, considered a growing and hip satellite city of Jakarta, has attracted a number of electoral hopefuls, including incumbent deputy mayor Benyamin Davnie and Siti Nur Azizah, who is a daughter of Vice President Ma’ruf Amin.Political analysts have raised concern that this year’s regional elections could give rise to a new generation of political dynasties.Aside from Prabowo’s niece and the Vice President’s daughter, the elections will also see Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the 32-year-old eldest son of President Joko Widodo, running for mayor with PDI-P backing in their hometown of Surakarta, Central Java. (mfp)Topics :
MOSCOW (AP):Russian athletics looked set for conflict with the IAAF over doping even as the government admitted on Tuesday that some top coaches relied on giving banned substances to their athletes.The IAAF, on Monday, said Russia would probably not be reinstated to global athletics until at least November, extending a ban first imposed in November 2015. That means there won’t be an official Russia team at the World Championships in August, though there may be “neutral” athletes competing.A new IAAF road map obliges the All-Russian Athletics Federation to confront World Anti-Doping Agency allegations that the Russian state oversaw a vast cover-up of drug use, either by accepting them or “convincingly rebutting those findings”.state-backedARAF first vice-president Andrei Silnov ruled out an admission that Russian doping was state-backed.”There are no facts there, just assertions, and we’re gradually proving that it’s not a state structure, a system, that kind of thing,” he told The Associated Press.A former Olympic high jump champion, Silnov said whistle-blowers about doping in Russia were motivated by money, questioned claims that Russia had “a culture of doping,” and suggested the IAAF was unfairly slowing down Russia’s reinstatement.”The criteria we have, we fulfil. We fulfil them and there’s a new set,” he said. “The process goes on and on.”Silnov held a news conference alongside former long jump world record-holder Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, who said East German athletes’ steroid-fuelled successes during the Cold War should be seen as legitimate products of “good pharmacology,” rather than condemned as doping. Silnov did not challenge the claim.Following a council meeting, the IAAF laid out conditions for Russia to return to competition, including the reinstatement of the national drug-testing agency, which remains suspended over various allegations of covering up doping. That isn’t considered likely to happen until November.
