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.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsJokowi in precarious position months after leaving presidency
Once a dominant force in the nation’s politics, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo now appears to be facing an increasingly precarious position, with key allies under pressure, family members’ influence faltering and his successor President Prabowo Subianto making moves that suggest he is asserting independence from the former president’s shadow.
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!
Change of command: Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (right) and his wife Iriana Widodo board an Indonesian Air Force plane on Oct. 20, 2024, at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta. The former president and former first lady departed to their Central Java hometown of Surakarta following the peaceful transfer of power to newly installed President Prabowo Subianto. (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)
O
nce a dominant force in the nation’s politics, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo now appears to be facing an increasingly precarious position, with key allies under pressure, family members’ influence faltering and his successor President Prabowo Subianto making moves that suggest he is asserting independence from the former president’s shadow.
Since leaving office in October last year, there have been growing signs that Jokowi’s influence is waning amid speculations about the potential rift between him and Prabowo, whom he backed in last year’s election. Prabowo won the election with Jokowi’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka as his vice president.
In a surprising twist late last month, Prabowo granted clemency to two political opponents, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto and former trade minister Thomas Lembong, who had been convicted in corruption cases that they called politically motivated and driven by their criticism of Jokowi.
The pardons came just one day before the PDI-P, the only major party outside the ruling coalition and the former party of Jokowi, held its congress in Bali, where chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri declared the party a “counterbalance” and instructed party members to support “all government policies which benefit the people”.
Read also: PDI-P to keep govt at arm's length
Analysts said Prabowo’s unexpected decision to grant amnesty to political rivals signaled an effort to assert greater independence from Jokowi, whose influence was seen as notable during the early stages of Prabowo’s presidency.
“By involving more senior figures, in this case Megawati, in the equation, Prabowo can gradually distance himself from Jokowi without directly confronting him,” analyst Arif Susanto from Exposit Strategic said.
