TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Prabowo wants to meet with Megawati before inauguration day
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Gerindra Party patron Prabowo Subianto (second left) and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri (center) smile in this undated file photo while taking a selfie with Megawati's daughter, Puan Maharani (second right). (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
P
resident-elect Prabowo Subianto has said he is hoping to meet with Megawati Soekarnoputri before his inauguration on Oct. 20, amid signs of thawing relations between the leaders of two parties that were on opposite sides of the February election.
Megawati is the only major party leader that Prabowo has not spoken to in person since his election victory, and her party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has yet to announce its stance toward the incoming government.
“God willing, the meeting will happen before inauguration day,” Prabowo, who chairs the Gerindra Party, said on Tuesday at the inauguration of new House of Representatives lawmakers.
PDI-P heir apparent and Megawati’s daughter Puan Maharani retained the House speakership that day without significant objection from seven pro-Prabowo parties, despite reports that they had been eyeing the position, which has significant authority to set the House’s agenda for the next five years.
This has raised speculation that the PDI-P, the largest party by representation in the House, might have agreed to join Prabowo’s coalition in exchange for the unchallenged House speakership.
Read also: Puan reelected as House of Representatives speaker
Scores of PDI-P executives and Megawati herself had previously said the party’s future stance would likely be decided by the chairwoman at the party’s congress scheduled for next year.
