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Sukarno’s clan is soon losing its grip on PDI-P
Megawati realizes it is nearly impossible for her to maintain the party as a family business after the 2024 elections
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Family business: House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani (right), who also chairs the central board of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), speaks to her mother, PDI-P matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri, during the party’s national working meeting on Jun. 21 in Jakarta. (Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat)
T
he legislative and presidential elections are just 17 months away. Only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) can nominate presidential and vice presidential candidates without having to form a coalition. At the same time, PDI-P has at least three challenges that need addressing before the elections because they will define the party's future.
First, PDI-P Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri still insists that her daughter Puan Maharani contest the presidential race. The problem is public opinion surveys have consistently shown Puan’s low electability rating, far behind that of popular candidates, including Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, who is also a PDI-P cadre.
In my view, Puan’s low score stems from at least two factors. First, her track record as a legislator and as a minister is not impressive at all. Second, there is still strong resistance to female presidential candidates among Muslims, the majority of the Indonesian population.
The second challenge is Megawati’s age. The paramount party leader will turn 77 in 2024, but the party, let alone Megawati herself, has yet to start talking about succession.
Naturally, PDI-P supporters in the grassroots want the party to remain under the descendants of the country’s first president Sukarno. They believe Sukarno’s offspring are the rightful safeguard of his Marhaenism, the party’s ideology that emphasizes national unity, culture, collectivist economics and democratic rights as an antithesis to liberalism.
It is almost unrealistic, however, to expect Megawati’s three children, including Puan, to share the power in leading the party in the future.
Third, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will end his second five-year term in October 2024. When he leaves office, he will be 63 years old, which is still within a productive age as a politician.
