Rock Star Turns on Jokowi to Back Underdog Presidential Campaign
- Slank’s Abdi Negara Nurdin resigns as Telkom’s commissioner
- Rock band backs Ganjar Pranowo for Feb. 14 presidential vote
Joko Widodo
Photographer: Ezra Acayan/AFP/Getty Images
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A 90s rock star behind President Joko Widodo’s successful campaigns left Indonesia’s biggest telecommunications firm to back a presidential candidate ahead of next month’s elections.
Abdi Negara Nurdin, rock band Slank’s guitarist, resigned as independent commissioner of state-owned PT Telkom Indonesia to join his band in performing at rallies and crafting a song titled “Metal Salute” for presidential hopeful Ganjar Pranowo. Slank did the same for Jokowi’s — as the incumbent is popularly known — campaigns in the 2014 and 2019 elections.