Prabowo lost the province to President Joko Widodo in the 2014 election, but took 47 per cent of the vote.

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“We believe conservatives listen to us … Prabowo’s brother is a Christian, and his sister is Catholic. So you can see that Prabowo lives and breathes tolerance, lives and breathes pluralism … so we would like to unite the country.”

The former deputy governor of Jakarta, who entered politics in 2015 after accumulating about Rp5.1 trillion (US$349 million) in wealth as a venture capitalist, has positioned himself as a modern, professional and devout Muslim. These qualities have impressed younger, educated Indonesians among the sprawling country’s 193 million voters, and given the Prabowo-Sandi pairing an edge over Widodo, 57, and his running mate, the cleric Ma’ruf Amin, 76.

A rally at an indoor sports hall near a Lampung landmark – the Elephant Park – on Friday afternoon was packed to the rafters with about 5,000 people. Many travelled to the city from neighbouring towns at their own expense, the emcee stressed.

Among them were emak-emak (women who are mothers) in colourful hijabs and youngsters in T-shirts that said #2019gantipresiden (change the president 2019) who cheered loudly, as the emcee whipped the crowd into a state of fervour.

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“Do you have jobs? Want it to be easier? Do you want the price of beef to decrease? Yes to Prabowo and Sandi?” the emcee said.

Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, had failed when it came to providing jobs for young people and keeping the prices of basic goods stable, Sandiaga said.

Prabowo had always been clear-minded about winning the election on an economic platform, Sandiaga said to This Week in Asia later, before he left Bandar Lampung for Jakarta.

He recounted how he was asked last August to team up with the former general.

Prabowo had faced pressure from Muslim conservatives in the political parties backing his second bid to be president, Sandiaga said, as they wanted him to run with a cleric or ulema to balance Jokowi’s choice of Ma’ruf. “But it’s Prabowo … he makes firm decisions. He didn’t want to bring an ulema into the race, he said it will divide the country, divide the people,” he said.

“Prabowo said, it’s not about religion, it’s about the economy and I want someone who can represent the young generation and the passing of the torch to the next generation.”

Asked about the cutthroat Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2017, when hardliners lobbied for the downfall of ethnic Chinese governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama – a development that some suggested helped Sandiaga to win with his running mate Anies Baswedan – Sandiaga said that matter was not about religion.

“[Ahok] had a great chance, he had 60 to 70 per cent approval rating. It’s about people who wanted a different type of leadership, it’s not religion,” Sandiaga said. “If you look at exit polls 95 per cent of Christians and non-Muslims voted for him, 99 per cent of Chinese voted for him. The Muslims were split in the middle.”

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Similar religious issues were still dominating this campaign, and it was like “déjà vu” for him, said Sandiaga, who drinks lemon-infused water prepared by his wife and fasts on Mondays and Thursdays.

At Sandiaga’s second rally stop in a football field, the 2,000 or so supporters cheered him wholeheartedly, lingering even when the skies turned dark and rain beat down. They included supporters from the hardline Islamic Defenders Front group who wore vests with the group’s initials FPI on them. “I want a leader who can strengthen Islam in Indonesia, so we will have more blessings from [God],” said Istiqomah, 23, a madrassa student who attended the rally with friends. “A lot of people in Indonesia now defy Islam’s teaching, for example, by allowing the practice of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender], which is forbidden in Islam. We as Muslims should vote for a Muslim candidate, so the people will be in sync with their leader.”

Asked why she wouldn’t vote for Ma’ruf Amin, Istiqomah said the cleric would just be the vice-president, and not the president. “I believe that Indonesia will be more Islamic under Prabowo-Sandiaga as Prabowo has said that he is willing to receive the mandate from ulema,” Istiqomah said. “Jokowi is not as Islamic [as Prabowo].”

“All religions support Prabowo-Sandiaga, so I am confident that they will unite the country,” said Fatimah, 40, a mother of two. “But as a Muslim, I feel that many Muslim clerics are currently tyrannised by [the Widodo] government.” ■