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’s son pins hopes on Megawati for Surakarta mayoral ticket
Keen to follow in his father’s first political footsteps from 2005, Gibran is hoping to run for Surakarta mayor under the PDI-P ticket, which has its stronghold in the city and has been the main backer of Jokowi’s political rise.
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!
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was brimming with enthusiasm before and after the meeting with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri at her residence in Jl. Teuku Umar, Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Friday.
Clad in a batik shirt with the words “Indonesia Raya” (Great Indonesia) and a caricature of Indonesia’s first president Sukarno, Megawati’s late father, the 32-year-old stepped out from his black Toyota Innova alone, carrying a thick document with a front cover that read “Surakarta mayoral election”, a small notebook and a pen.
Gibran at first said Friday’s meeting was just a sowan – a Javanese term for visiting respectable or elder figures – but it was evident the visit was mainly aimed at securing his ticket for the 2020 mayoral race in Surakarta, Central Java.
Keen to follow in his father’s first political footsteps from 2005, Gibran is hoping to run for Surakarta mayor under the PDI-P ticket, which has its stronghold in the city and has been the main backer of Jokowi’s political rise.
Despite his father’s gravity, Gibran hit a rocky road from the get-go. The PDI-P Surakarta branch closed its doors to him and gave the ticket to Achmad Purnomo and Teguh Prakosa.
Achmad currently serves as the Surakarta deputy mayor, while Teguh is the Surakarta Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) chairman for the 2015-2020 period.
However, the rejection has not ended Gibran’s journey as he can still apply for the mayoral race through the Central Java PDI-P or the PDI-P central board, according to the party’s secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto.
