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Analysis: No party as VP Gibran marks first 100 days in office
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Gibran Rakabuming Raka hold his favorite es doger jeger (traditional iced drink) during the grand opening of Goola on Sunday, September 16, 2018, in Cikini, Central Jakarta. (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)
W
hile the results of most opinion surveys have produced public approval ratings of over 80 percent to the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, which will mark its first 100 days on Jan. 28, much of the credit goes to the President, who has been visibly active, whereas the Vice President has been largely dormant and almost invisible.
One of the few times Gibran made a media splash came last month, when he, along with his father, former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, was expelled by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for turning their backs on the political party that had given them a national platform. On the other occasions when the Vice President made a public appearance, he often became a target of ridicule on social media for his poor public speaking skills.
This does not bode well for Gibran, who has his eyes trained on the 2029 general election. The vice presidential seat, which he ostensibly won in last year’s race by riding on the coattails of his father’s massive popularity, was supposed to gain him wider nationwide visibility. But this is not happening and may not happen for sometime, if at all.
Their expulsion from the PDI-P means both father and son must now find a new party that can mobilize support and manage Gibran’s campaign in his bid for the presidency in 2029. Jokowi is alleged to have attempted to wrest the PDI-P leadership from matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri in the run-up to the party’s national congress in April. He still has supporters in the party, but apparently not enough to shake the 77-year-old chairwoman. Whether the allegations are true or not, he and his son both got the boot instead.
A rumor spread last week that Gibran would soon be joining the Golkar Party, the country’s second-largest political party after the PDI-P, after he was billed as the keynote speaker for the 65th anniversary event of Golkar’s Mutual Assistance Consultative Organization (MKGR), a mass organization. But his scheduled appearance was canceled at the last minute without an explanation, suggesting strong internal opposition against him joining the party.
Gibran was replaced by Golkar chair Bahlil Lahadalia, who was elected to the post last August with a massive boost from then-president Jokowi and is currently Prabowo’s energy minister. While Bahlil assured the audience that Gibran loved both MKGR and Golkar, he made no mention about the Vice President’s intention to join the party.
As present, neither Gibran nor Jokowi is affiliated with any political party.
