JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Dangdut king cum politician and Islamic clerk Rhoma Irama has just established his own political party namely the Peaceful & Secure Indonesia Party aka Idaman Party in a declaration held on Wednesday (Oct. 14) at the Proklamasi Monument in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Prior to entering politics, Rhoma Irama is known as legendary dangdut singer. He is known for having close relationship with Muslim-based political parties such as PKB, PPP, and PBB.
Rhoma was campaign for PKB in the 2014 legislative election. At that time, Rhoma was among those who seek endorsement from PKB to enter the last year’s presidential election.
But Rhoma failed to enter the election as PKB eventually endorsed Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla. Rhoma then opted to support Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa pair, which is Jokowi-Kalla’s opponent in the presidential election.
Interestingly, Jokowi’s administration later appointed Rhoma as one of 17 commissioners at the newly National Collective Management Agency (LMKN), a new institution that will help the government protect intellectual property right. (haryantosuharman@yosefardi.