T

he ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is seeing more rising potential young leaders but is struggling to regenerate due to a dynastic system that grants party leadership to the descendants of former president Sukarno remaining unchallenged, a study says.   

A recent study by Jakarta-based Poltracking Indonesia placed three popular party members '€” President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, lawmaker Pramono Anung Wibowo and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo '€” at the top of the list of potential future leaders, overtaking current party executives including chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.  

The study, which involved 200 experts from various disciplines, from politics to law, found that Jokowi, Pramono and Ganjar had secured the three highest scores in ten categories: integrity and track record; competence and capability; vision; communication skills among the elites; ability to communicate with the public; acceptability; leadership achievement; ability to lead a party; ability to lead a political coalition; and ability in leading the government.

It in particular placed Jokowi at the top of the list of all categories, securing the three highest scores of 7.55 on average, from a scale of 0 to 10 '€” excluding on the ability to lead a party in which he lost to Pramono, a former House of Representatives deputy speaker.

'€œThe study shows that the three leading individuals [Jokowi, Pramono and Ganjar] are also cited as the most recommended potential leaders of the PDI-P in the future as they are seen as promising fresh faces for the party'€™s chairmanship,'€ Poltracking director Hanta Yudha told a press briefing on Sunday.

The three leading individuals outshone Megawati and her two children '€” Puan Maharani and Prananda Prabowo '€” who secured the three lowest scores.

Besides Jokowi, Pramono and Ganjar, the study also recognized other growing members within the PDI-P such as acting secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto, lawmaker Maruarar Sirait and Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo.

Despite the growing number of potential senior members in the PDI-P, a majority of 41.6 percent of experts engaged in the study, which took place from December last year to February this year, cited regeneration as the greatest challenge for the PDI-P to actually witness any of its rising members taking a lead; while 26.4 percent cited a lack of democratization as the other issue to deal with.  

Two renowned analysts '€” Hamdi Muluk of the University of Indonesia and Ikrar Nusa Bhakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) '€” who also attended the launch of the study on Sunday, highlighted that despite the fact that the PDI-P had more potential leaders, Megawati would still be unchallenged during the party'€™s national congress next month, which is aimed at selecting a new leader as well as determining the course of the party in the coming years.

'€œBu Mega has been successful in nurturing more potential members to grow but not yet in encouraging and allowing them to replace her,'€ Ikrar said.

'€œWe will see an unchallenged election of her in the party'€™s congress [next month],'€ he added.

Meanwhile, Hamdi concluded that the study in general showed that '€œlike most political parties in the country, democratization remains a challenge for the PDI-P'€.