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Presidential Office denies Jokowi interfering with PDI-P’s new central board line up
In her speech on Monday, PDI-P matriarch Megawati dismissed speculation about her deepening feud with Jokowi, insisting that her relationship with the president remained on good terms.
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.Food for thought: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) receives a slice of rice cone from Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri during the opening of the party’s national executive meeting in Jakarta, on June 21, 2022. (Courtesy of/Press Bureau of Presidential Secretariat)
T
he Presidential Office has repudiated reports that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been seeking to interfere with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) new central board line-up.
“I showed [the article] to the president. He also said, ‘Oh, what's this news?’ He does not know anything about it,” State Secretary Pratikno told reporters on Tuesday.
He was referring to a report by Tempo magazine citing unnamed sources who claimed that the President has been unhappy about the party’s decision to extend the term of the sitting central board’s executives until next year and to include new faces who have been openly critical of Jokowi in the party’s central board.
The new appointees include unsuccessful presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo, former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahja Purnama, lawmaker Deddy Yevri Sitorus and former pro-democracy activist Adian Napitulu.
The same reports claimed Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, who is also a card-carrying member of PDI-P, was reprimanded by Jokowi’s close associates because the minister did not inform the President about the PDI-P’s new official lineup before approving it.
Read also: Rift with Jokowi may cost PDI-P House leadership
Sources cited by Tempo claimed that Jokowi later instructed his aides to form a special team to study the legal aspects of the PDI-P central board's term extension.
The PDI-P and President Jokowi have parted ways since the outgoing leader tacitly endorsed Prabowo Subianto as his successor and let his eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, run as Prabowo’s running mate, a move that went against the party’s directive to support its own presidential candidate, Ganjar.
Since February’s election, which saw the victory of the Prabowo-Gibran pair, Megawati has been notably vocal in criticizing what she views as a series of attempts by Jokowi to undermine democracy to ensure the future of his political dynasty.
In her speech on Monday, however, the PDI-P matriarch dismissed speculation about her deepening feud with Jokowi, insisting that her relationship with the President remains on good terms.
"The President and I are on good terms. Why would it be otherwise?” she said. (yer)
