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PDI-P gives Jokowi clan the cold shoulder
The ruling party has publicly criticized Jokowi’s policies and has snubbed members of his family, with one investigation saying it is because the President seems increasingly likely to side with an electoral rival.
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Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka (right), who is President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son, chats with (from left to right) Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir at the lounge of Adi Soemarmo Airport in Boyolali, Central Java, on July 24, 2023. (Antara/Press Bureau of Presidential Secretariat )
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has appeared to be distancing itself from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his policies in recent weeks, giving weight to speculation that the ruling party is preparing to enter the 2024 general election without the support of a “party official” whose allegiance it continues to question.
On Monday, PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri suggested at a book event that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) would be better off disbanded because of its perceived ineffectiveness.
“I’ve told Pak Jokowi several times now, ‘Just shut down the KPK, it no longer works,’” she said in a speech in Jakarta, according to Kompas.com. “I like to tell it like it is,” the senior politician said.
The 2002 formation of the antigraft superbody was hailed as a cornerstone of Megawati’s brief presidency and of the Reform Era as a whole, but critics have suggested she might also have played a role – through Jokowi, close allies or operatives in the KPK – in defanging the body in 2019.
The flagging anticorruption movement has been an Achilles heel for Jokowi amid otherwise high approval ratings. He continues to face criticism for allowing the KPK to lose much of its investigative and enforcement power under his watch.
Megawati’s remarks come about a week after PDI-P secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto publicly derided Jokowi’s food estate megaproject, which he said was marred with “conflicts of interest” because of the involvement of PT Agro Industry Nasional, a firm owned by a nonprofit foundation operated by the Defense Ministry and with close connections to the Gerindra Party.
Political observers believe this was a not-so-subtle swipe at Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who has worked with PDI-P member Jokowi despite having lost to him in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections.
