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.
Jokowi signals interest in leading PSI over PPP
The former president appears to be gunning for a chance at helming the PSI, currently led by his youngest son Kasang Pangarep, rather than the PPP, another political party that failed to win any legislative seats in the 2024 election.
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!
Jakarta motorists drive on Jan. 18, 2024, past a campaign banner for legislative candidate Grace Natalie Louisa from the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) that also features party chair Kaesang Pangarep (right, top) and his father, then-president Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo. (AFP/Adek Berry)
J
oko “Jokowi” Widodo has dismissed speculation that he could be in the running to lead the United Development Party (PPP), instead indicating a preference for the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) led by his youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep.
Speaking to reporters on Friday at his residence in Surakarta, Central Java, the former president, who is currently not a card-carrying member of any party, suggested others were better suited to helm the PPP, the nation’s oldest Islamic party.
“There are many candidates within the PPP who are far better, have the competence and capacity for the role,” Jokowi said, as quoted by Tempo.co.
The PPP is currently preparing to hold its national congress, where it plans to elect a new chairman in hopes of staging a comeback after its resounding defeat in the 2024 legislative election that left it with zero seats in the House of Representatives. It was the party’s first election loss since it was formed in 1973.
Jokowi had been touted as a potential contender in the PPP’s upcoming leadership race alongside other party outsiders, such as vocal government critic and losing presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman and former Army chief of staff Dudung Abdurachman.
Instead, the ex-president has indicated he is leaning toward the PSI, another small party that also failed to win any seats in the national legislature last year.
Read also: PSI opens door to Jokowi in leadership race
