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Democratic Party: Post-Soeharto behemoth awaits big break
A storm has engulfed the party since Yudhoyono was still serving his second term as the country’s president
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Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (center), the eldest son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is greeted by Democratic Party supporters during his visit to West Aceh regency, Aceh, on March 5. (Antara/Syifa Yulinnas)
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fter a remarkable win in 2009, the Democratic Party, a political party founded by retired Army general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has spiraled downward amid a string of scandals.
As the only party established in the post-Soeharto era that has ever won a general and presidential election, a storm has engulfed the party since Yudhoyono was still serving his second term as the country’s president. Corruption cases have swept the party’s top brass—including chairman Anas Urbaningrum, treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, lawmaker Angelina Sondakh and former youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng.
In 2014, the party could only maintain half of what it had achieved five years earlier, marking a grim closure to Yudhoyono’s decade in office. The Democrats ranked fourth in the legislative election, below the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar Party and Gerindra Party.
Yudhoyono has since taken over the party’s leadership and tried to put it back in the game. The party nominated his son, Agus Harimurti, who resigned from his post in the Army, in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, running with long-time Jakarta bureaucrat Sylviana Murni.
Although failing to win the election, Agus, who was an infantry major at the time of his retirement, has succeeded in building his popularity as a new icon of the party.
The Yudhoyono family has also successfully maintained their public presence in the past five years, despite not being involved in the government. Former first lady Ani Yudhoyono has become a social media darling with her penchant for photography and Instagram updates on her family's activities, which are warmly received by her followers.
After a political safari across the country in early 2018, Yudhoyono offered Agus to major political parties like the PDI-P and Gerindra to become a vice-presidential candidate during the nomination process for the 2019 presidential election. But the effort was fruitless as none of the parties, as well as Jokowi and Prabowo, were willing to take him.
