Ganjar Pranowo SHMI P is a Governor of Central Java who has served two terms. So what was Ganjar’s childhood like until he became a governor who was loved by the people? The following is a more detailed explanation regarding Mr. Ganjar Pranowo.
Ganjar Pranowo’s profile
Ganjar Pranowo was born into a humble family on October 28 1968 in the village on the slopes of Mount Lawu, Karanganyar. Ganjar Pranowo’s real name is Ganjar Sungkowo, which means reward for hardship or sadness. However, when Ganjar was about to enter elementary school, Sungkowo’s name was changed to Pranowo by his parents. This name change occurred because of the fear of Ganjar’s parents, if the name Sungkowo remained, the child would always wallow in bad luck and trouble.
Ganjar’s father’s name is S. Pamudji and his mother’s name is Sri Suparni. Ganjar is the fifth of six children. The names of his siblings are Pri Kuntadi, Pri Pambudi Teguh, Joko Prasetyo, Prasetyowati, and Nur Hidayati. Ganjar’s father himself worked as a police officer and was also assigned to take part in the operation to crack down on PRRI or Permesta.
Since childhood, Ganjar has shown his leadership spirit. This was proven when Ganjar was in elementary school, he was always elected class president. When he was about to enter junior high school, his family moved to Kutoarjo following the place where his father was assigned. Ganjar continued his studies at SMA Bopkri 1 Yogyakarta. In high school he was active in participating in scouting activities or the Standing Council.
When he was about to graduate from high school in 1980, his father retired from serving in the National Police. To make ends meet and meet the family’s economic needs, his mother opened a grocery store. Meanwhile, Ganjar has also experienced selling petrol on the side of the road.
After graduating from high school, Ganjar continued his studies at the Faculty of Law at Gadjah Mada University. On campus, he joined the Indonesian National Student Movement (GMNI). During college, Ganjar admitted that he took two semesters off from college. This is because he does not have the funds for lectures. Ganjar admitted that he had a hobby of demonstrating during college. Ganjar once took part in a demonstration by the UGM chancellor for the 1986-1990 period, namely Koesnadi Hardjasoemantri.
In 1994, Ganjar met Siti Atikoh Supriyanti while on KKN in Temanggung, Central Java. Atikoh is the son of a Nahdlatul Ulama figure from Purbalingga, Central Java.
What is interesting about their relationship is that Ganjar Pranowo has a background in GMNI and PDI, while Atikoh has a background in an Islamic boarding school in Purbalingga which is affiliated with NU and PPP. The two of them married in 1999 and have one son named Muhammad Zinedine Alam Ganjar. Zinedine was born in 2003 and is currently studying at SMAN 3 Semarang, Central Java.
Ganjar Pranowo’s Early Career
After Ganjar Pranowo graduated from the UGM Faculty of Law, he worked at an HRD consulting agency in Jakarta, namely PT Prakarsa. Ganjar has also worked at PT Prastawana Karya Samitra and PT Semeru Realindo Inti. Ganjar was active in GMNI and admired Soekarno, and Ganjar was a PDI sympathizer.
In 1996, PDI had an internal conflict between supporters of Soerjadi and Megawati Soekarnoputri as a representative of the Bung Karno breed. Ganjar is in Megawati’s camp, even though in reality Ganjar’s father is a policeman and his brother is a judge. According to the New Order, all public officials are prohibited from engaging in politics and must fully support Golkar. And in the end Ganjar chose a political career through the PDIP Party led by Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Ganjar Pranowo, General Chair of KAGAMA
In November 2014, at the KAGAMA (Gadjah Mada University Alumni Family) congress in Kendari, Ganjar was elected by deliberation to replace Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono
Ganjar was elected after holding consensus deliberations with three other candidates for general chairman, namely Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono The deliberation took place at the Grand Clarion Hotel, Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi on Saturday, November 8 2014.
After being elected, Ganjar Pranowo gave his speech stating that the KAGAMA work program should not forget the values of struggle, democracy and nationality that have been taught by Gadjah Mada University. One of the programs that will be carried out by Ganjar Pranowo is establishing synergy with Regional Management so that harmony can be built between KAGAMA members. Ganjar also added that communication between KAGAMA members can be done physically or virtually.
Ganjar Pranowo, Member of the DPR-RI
Ganjar Pranowo initially did not qualify when running as a member of the DPR-RI in the 2004 general election. However, Ganjar received the assignment as an interim substitute or PAW to replace his party colleague who was in the same electoral district, namely Jakob Tobing, who was assigned by President Megawati Soekarnoputri became ambassador to South Korea.
When he was a member of the DPR-RI for the period 2004 to 2009, Ganjar Pranowo was assigned to Commission IV which also supervised the fields of Agriculture, Plantation, Forestry, Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Food. Not only that, Ganjar has also been placed on the Special Committee or Special Committee for the Political Party Bill as chairman of the special committee, Member of the DPR-RI Legislative Body, and also Chairman of the Special Committee on the MPR, DPR, DPD and DPRD in the DPR-RI.
In his second period as a member of the DPR-RI, Ganjar was placed in Commission II which supervised the areas of Domestic Government, Regional Autonomy, State Apparatus, Bureaucratic Reform, Elections, Land and Agrarian Reform. Ganjar Pranowo became known to the public when he was a member of the Special Committee for Inquiry Rights for Century Bank and at the same time as Deputy Chair of Commission II DPR-RI.
Ganjar Pranowo has been a postgraduate student at FISIP UI since 2009, but was forced to take leave because of his busy schedule as a member of the DPR-RI. Even though being a Member of the DPR-RI is quite busy, Ganjar continued his studies until he was able to complete postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia in 2013.
Profile While Serving as Governor of Central Java
In 2013 Ganjar Pranowo ran as a candidate for Governor in the General Election for Governor of Central Java. Ganjar collaborated with Heru Sudjatmoko who was promoted by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle or PDIP. Ganjar and Heru are known by the jargon ” Mboten Corruption Mboten Ngapusi” which means no corruption, no lying. Both of them became winners with a vote acquisition of 48.82%.
On Friday, 23 August 2013, Ganjar Pranowo and Heru were inaugurated as Governor. The inauguration was carried out by the Minister of Home Affairs, Gamawan Fauzi at the Central Java DPRD, Jalan Pahlawan, Semarang. Ganjar Pranowo is running again as a candidate for Governor of Central Java.
This time, Ganjar took Taj Yasin Maimoen, who is a member of the Central Java DPRD for the 2014-2019 period from the PPP faction and from the Central Java Electoral District 3. Victory again went to Ganjar with 58.78% of the vote with 10,362,694 votes. Ganjar Pranowo and Taj Yasin Maimoen officially become Governors of Central Java from 2018 to 2023.
In the leadership led by Ganjar Pranowo when he was Governor of Central Java, such as:
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1. Sudden Inspection at the Weigh Bridge
Ganjar caught the public’s attention when he expressed anger at Transportation Department officers who carried out a surprise inspection at the Subah Weigh Bridge, Batang Regency. The incident occurred on April 27 2014. Ganjar saw several kernet officers handing over money ranging from Rp. 10,000 to Rp. 20,000 or less than a fine. The highest official rate is IDR 60,000 to officers.
By discovering the practice of illegal levies in Subah, the policy of closing the Weigh Bridge in Central Java was followed since May 2014. However, this policy caused Central Java to lose revenue of IDR 10.118 billion as recorded by the Supreme Audit Agency or BPK on Central Java’s financial report for year 2014.
One of the leaders of the local DPRD commission, Alwin Basri, said that this policy actually caused losses for the province itself. The closure of the weigh bridges was not followed by a study and evaluation of the duties and functions of the employees on duty at each weigh bridge.
2. Twitter
Ganjar uses social media Twitter to communicate with the public. Ganjar has done this since before he became Governor until now he is Governor. During the inauguration of regional head officials, Ganjar asked officials to be active on social media accounts so they could quickly receive complaints from residents and be able to respond and find out the latest information from their respective regions. For Ganjar, through social media he can listen to input, criticism and even protests from people who don’t like the policies being made.
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3. Indonesian Cement Dispute Case
Ganjar was considered less communicative in responding to the Semen Indonesia dispute case with Rembang residents. Since 2015, residents have been opposing the construction of a cement factory in the Kendeng mountains by taking legal action and holding demonstrations.
The Kadeng residents’ lawsuit to cancel the cement factory permit was granted after the Supreme Court on August 2 2016 issued a Judicial Review decision which canceled the Decree regarding the Environmental Permit for Mining Activities by PT Semen Gresik in Rembang Regency. Even though the PK decision has prohibited mining and drilling in groundwater basins in the Kendeng mountain area.
On November 9 2016 Ganjar issued a new addendum or decree changing the name of PT Semen Gersik Tbk to PT Semen Indonesia Tbk. According to Ganjar, the court has not provided an explanation regarding whether the factory will continue or not, so the establishment of the Indonesian cement factory will continue because there is no closure order.
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment, one of the environmental permit plaintiffs, in a written release said that Ganjar as Governor of Central Java was ” playing with the law for the sake of industrial interests “. Walhi Nur Hayati as Executive Director said that Ganjar had carried out a strategy to evade the obligation to comply with the law and court decisions when residents obeyed and respected the law.
On December 19 2016, hundreds of Kendeng residents demonstrated again to demand the closure of the cement factory in Rembang because they were disappointed with Ganjar’s attitude which seemed to divert the case by questioning the list of residents’ names which contained the names Ultraman and Power Rangers. Many residents have urged the governor to cancel the environmental permit for factory construction in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision.
Ganjar issued a Decree on January 17 2017 canceling the addendum he had previously issued. Ganjar decided to postpone the process of establishing the Indonesian Cement factory in Rembang until a Permit Decree was issued which had been adjusted to the PK MA decision. However, new permits “with slight changes in area” were issued again on February 23 2017.
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Considered bad for law enforcement in Indonesia, the Legal Aid Institute or LBH Semerang also criticized the issuance of the new permit. Zainal Arifin, Director of LBH Semarang, said that the new environmental permit was legally flawed and was a form of the governor’s arrogance.
Meanwhile, during Ganjar Pranowo’s leadership, he implemented credit financing from Bank Central Java for MSMEs with the KUR Mitra 25 product, subject to an interest rate of seven percent per year. Meanwhile Mintra 02 is two percent, without collateral and without administration fees. When it was launched, the credit interest rate was recorded as the lowest in Indonesia and was widely imitated by other regional governments throughout the country and even received attention and appreciation from President Joko Widodo.
The Corruption Eradication Commission awarded Ganjar as the highest reporter of gratuities in 2015. This achievement was given for Ganjar’s seriousness in controlling the giving of gratifications to both the governor and Central Java provincial government officials.
Ganjar Pranowo also made a new breakthrough by inviting all state civil servants or ASN numbering more than forty thousand in the Central Java Provincial Government to pay zakat. ASN income is cut directly by 2.5%. In a month, IDR 1.6 billion can be collected which can be used for disaster relief, repair of uninhabitable houses (RTLH), education and Islamic boarding schools, mosques, health and so on.
In 2014, Ganjar Pranowo also planned a program to create disaster resilient villages. The target is that by 2018 all of the 2,204 disaster-prone villages in Central Java will have formed resilient villages. Ganjar Pranowo also formed one hundred independent villages, which are village areas that can develop their potential, from tourism to natural resources and energy for economic empowerment in the community.
For the health sector, Ganjar Pranowo plans to build a modern, international standard hospital at MAJT or the Great Mosque of Central Java. Ganjar Pranowo also launched the “ Central Java Gayeng Nginceng Wong Mateng ” program which Ganjar initiated at the start of his reign.
Ganjar Pranowo also created a Farmer’s Card. The Farmer’s Card contains the farmer’s identity, land area, type of crop, and also fertilizer requirements. Outside, no farmer can access subsidized fertilizer, thereby minimizing crime and abuse of authority. President Joko Widodo appreciated and made the Tani Card a national program.