Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto has denied that he had talked about politics with his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo when the two dined together on Sunday evening.

Prabowo headed to Jokowi’s hometown of Solo over the weekend after a business trip to Merauke. The recently installed president stopped by Jokowi’s residence and had a private conversation for around 20 minutes. They then went to a local restaurant for dinner.

The dinner took place just weeks after the retiring Jokowi handed over the presidential baton to his ex-defense minister Prabowo. It was also only weeks away before Indonesians across the country vote for their next regional heads. Prabowo -- who is also the chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) -- said that there were no talks on the election whatsoever during the dinner.

“We discussed this and that,” Prabowo told reporters as he and Jokowi departed from the restaurant. “But we didn’t talk about politics.” 

Recently, Jokowi met with Jakarta governor candidate Ridwan Kamil who was endorsed by a giant coalition of parties. Prabowo’s Gerindra Party was among those who backed Ridwan Kamil’s gubernatorial bid. Ridwan said he wanted to ask for some advice from Jokowi, who also used to be the Jakarta governor in 2012-2014.

“We discussed [Ridwan Kamil’s] plans and his ideas for Jakarta,” Jokowi told the press not long after the meeting. When asked whether Jokowi planned on becoming a campaigner to Ridwan Kamil and other regional head hopefuls, the ex-president said that he was still thinking things through. Jokowi added: “I will make a decision as we go.”

According to media reports, Central Java governor candidate Ahmad Luthfi recently claimed that Jokowi would join his team as a campaigner for the upcoming elections. Just like Ridwan Kamil, Ahmad Luthfi also received the backing of a large political alliance that also included Prabowo’s Gerindra. Silvester Matutina -- the head of the Jokowi supporter group Red and White Solidarity (Solmet) -- also claimed that many regional head candidates had asked Indonesia’s seventh president to support their campaign.

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