Thousands of Ulemas Attend Declaration of Prabowo-Hatta Campaign Team

Bangkalan, E Java (Antara) - Thousands of ulemas from different Islamic boarding schools in Bangkalan district, East Java, attended a function here on Friday to announce a campaign team of the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa presidential and vice presidential pair. KH Fuad Amin Imron, who is also chief of the Bangkalan district chapter of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party of which Prabowo is chief patron, led the function held at the Merdeka building here. "The declaration of the Prabowo-Hatta campaign team is the first of its kind and only involves the Bangkalan district. The declaration of campaign teams across Madura island will be held in Sampang district," he said. The ulemas attending the announcement of the Prabowo-Hatta campaign team hailed from 18 sub-districts in Bangkalan district. Fuad said ulemas in Bangkalan district agreed to support the Prabowo-Hatta duo in the July 9 presidential poll for various reasons. "One of them is that Mr. Prabowo has a strong national commitment. He is a nationalist and does not want other countries to have a grip on this nation," he said. Prabowo has the same commitment as ulemas and senior leaders of the Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Bangkalan. "So, the political situation in Bangkalan and Madura in general is very different from that of the rest of the country," he said. He predicted nearly 80 percent of Bangkalan residents will vote for the Prabowo-Hatta duo in the July 9 poll. (*) Reporting by Abd Aziz