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 resultsMegawati’s absence on Independence Day highlights distance with Jokowi
Rather than attending the Independence Day celebration at the Merdeka Palace on Aug. 17, former president and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri opted to attend a ceremony held by party members in its headquarters in Jakarta.
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!
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair Megawati Soekarnoputri salutes the Red-and-White Flag during an Independence Day ceremony on Aug. 17 at party headquarters in Jakarta. Megawati, a former president, decided to forego the Independence Day ceremony at the Merdeka Palace to attend one held by her party. (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
T
he absence of former president and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair Megawati Soekarnoputri during the country’s Independence Day celebration has fueled speculation of her growing distance with fellow former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who was expelled from the party last year.
Megawati did not attend the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Independence Day at the Merdeka Palace in Central Jakarta on Sunday. She was the only living former president to not appear at the palace, as Jokowi and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sat next to President Prabowo Subianto during the ceremony.
Also attending Sunday’s ceremony were all living former vice presidents, namely Try Sutrisno, Boediono, Jusuf Kalla and Ma’ruf Amin.
The nationalist party chair also did not attend the annual People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) plenary meeting at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Friday, when Prabowo delivered his first State of the Nation Address.
But Megawati came to the State Palace on Saturday to officiate this year’s national flag-hoisting (Paskibraka) squad as head of the Agency for the Implementation of the State Ideology Pancasila’s (BPIP) steering committee. She reportedly relayed a message and greeting for Prabowo through State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi on the sidelines of the officiating ceremony.
Read also: Independence Day ceremony marked by military parade
Being invited as a former president to both events, Megawati’s absence raised eyebrows over her intention of missing both state agendas.
