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 resultsMore defectors expected to join PSI from other parties
An Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) official denied that former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has been recruiting incumbent lawmakers to join the nonlegislative party.
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!
Surakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers take down flags featuring the new logo of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) on July 16, 2025, in Surakarta, Central Java. The flags were installed in areas where banners featuring political parties and mass organizations are prohibited as mandated by a 2023 mayoral regulation. (Antara/Mohammad Ayudha)
T
he Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) is anticipating a new wave of defections from rival parties amid reports that former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has explored ways to take over NasDem Party as a political vehicle.
The expected defections were revealed by PSI executive Bestari Barus following a meeting about a wide range of political issues with Jokowi at the latter’s private residence in Surakarta, Central Java on Monday. Bestari himself is a former NasDem politician who joined the PSI last year.
Speaking after the meeting, Bestari claimed the party is expecting a new wave of politicians from other parties, including those currently serving as House of Representatives lawmakers, to leave their seats to join the PSI, although he stopped short of providing further details.
“There are many [politicians] who have moved to the PSI. [...] There are still 15 to 20 more planning to join,” Bestari said, as quoted by Tribunnews.com, declining to disclose the identities of politicians in question or their initial parties.
He denied suggestions that the defections were the result of recruitment efforts by the PSI or Jokowi, asserting the moves were instead made independently by politicians who chose to join the party on their own accord.
The potential new addition would mark another wave of defections to the PSI after the party brought several politicians from other parties into its central board leadership over the past year. The list includes NasDem’s Bestari and Ahmad Ali, who lost the Central Sulawesi gubernatorial election in 2024.
Read also: Potential Gerindra-NasDem merger could reshape 2029 electoral landscape
