Campaign starts early for Tantowi

Padangekspres.net-The Golkar Party has yet to announce its candidate for the 2012 gubernatorial election, but presenter-turned-politician Tantowi Yahya is confident the party will tap him for the top post in the capital.

The Golkar politician has begun setting up campaign offices where members of his campaign team work to gather support by responding to residents’ usual complaints about Jakarta. This, according to coordinator for Tantowi’s campaign in East Jakarta, H. Nasrullah, will bring him closer to the public.

About 500 people attended the inauguration ceremony for one of the said offices on Monday, which is located in Jalan Jatinegara Barat in Kampung Melayu, according to kompas.com newsportal.

Tantowi, who is now sitting on the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs commission, used the opportunity to chat with locals who might have known him more as an artist than a politician.

A survey conducted by Cyrus Network in December last year placed Tantowi as one of the strongest contenders in the July election.

His closest rival is incumbent Fauzi Bowo, who will likely seek to extend his term. The survey puts Fauzi’s approval rate at 25.3 percent, followed by Tantowi at 19 percent, Faisal Basri at 15 percent, Surakarta mayor Joko Widodo at 6 percent and Sandiaga S Uno at 6 percent.

While many could easily question the survey’s credibility, Tantowi could not rely his candidacy solely on the survey as several other Golkar politicians are also seeking for the party’s endorsement to run in the Jakarta election. As of today, the party has yet to decide when it will conduct a plenary meeting to determine which of the governor hopefuls within the party they will officially support.

Among Golkar politicians aspiring to run for Jakarta’s gubernatorial post are chairman of the party’s Jakarta chapter Priya Ramadhani, former fishery and maritime minister Fadel Muhammad and lawmaker Aziz Syamsuddin. Priya is an in-law to Aburizal Bakrie, the party’s chairman.

The party’s deputy secretary general Lalu Mara Satriawangsa told The Jakarta Post that the party would hold the meeting in the near future, but without specifying any dates.

The party had previously said that it would hold its own survey to asses the electability of the hopefuls at least six months before the poll.