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Jokowi’s son pushes ahead to get PDI-P ticket for mayoral run

While the Surakarta chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has rejected his nomination, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, has marched ahead to the party’s provincial chapter in his attempt to get support for his mayoral run

Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post)
Surakarta
Fri, November 15, 2019

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Jokowi’s son pushes ahead to get PDI-P ticket for mayoral run

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span>While the Surakarta chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has rejected his nomination, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, has marched ahead to the party’s provincial chapter in his attempt to get support for his mayoral run.

The 32-year-old culinary entrepreneur said he would use the opportunity through the PDI-P Central Java provincial chapter (DPD) to earn a nomination since it was still possible to register for the mayoral candidate selection through the provincial chapter after the municipality chapter closed.   

He said he was currently waiting for the registration period at the DPD level to open.

“I am waiting for directions from seniors. I maintain communication with the [Surakarta chapter. My relationships with [Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo] and [Surakarta Deputy Mayor Achmad Purnomo] are also good,” Gibran said on the sidelines of an event in Surakarta on Tuesday.

He also said that even before planning to register through the party provincial chapter he had consulted with Hadi. The mayor, Gibran said, was the first figure he met before he visited other PDI-P figures.

Gibran claimed that Hadi was pleased to know that he had registered for the party’s membership and as a Surakarta mayoral candidate.

“[Hadi] is a person that I respect very much. He was the one who suggested that I get the party’s membership card then register [as a mayoral candidate],” he said.

The party’s Surakarta chapter has recommended the Achmad-Teguh Prakosa candidate pair for the 2020 regional election. With the recommendation, registration for mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates through the chapter is closed for other candidates, including Gibran.

Yet, according to the party’s rule, if the registration at municipality level is already closed, a candidate can still register through the provincial chapter or the central executive board.

However, Hadi expressed a different opinion on Gibran’s attempt to run in the election.

Hadi, who is also the head of the PDI-P’s Surakarta chapter, said on Wednesday the party’s central executive board would violate the party’s rules if it finally gives a mayoral candidacy recommendation to Gibran, after the local chapter had rejected him.

He said according to a party regulation, the municipality chapter has the right to nominate a mayoral ticket independently if it has secured a minimum of 25 percent of seats at the local council, which the Surakarta’s PDI-P have. 

If the central board decides to nominate Gibran, Hadi said it would become a bad precedent for other chapters.

“Now it’s up to the central board whether it wants to apply the regulation or not. If the party violates its own rules, the party is dead already,” said Hadi.

The Surakarta’s PDI-P rejected Gibran’s application for the mayoral run when he came to register, arguing that he did not have a party membership card and was therefore ineligible to run.  

He later proceeded with his membership card, but the registration was closed when he was ready to apply.

Gibran said he could understand the party’s rejection since the municipality chapter supported the Achmad-Teguh pair to run in the election.

He later asked senior PDI-P figures about whether he still had the opportunity to run as a candidate.

Among the figures he asked, he said, were chairman of the PDI-P’s Central Java chapter Bambang Wuryanto, the party’s chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and her daughter Puan Maharani.

“All of them said, yes I could. That is my basis for continuing with my plan to get the PDI-P’s nomination,’ Gibran said.

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