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Luhut plays middleman as Jokowi-Paloh relations hit new low
Signs of a rift between the pro-government NasDem Party and the President have been growing since the party decided to nominate Anies last year.
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he relationship between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh has gone to pot since the latter decided to endorse former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan for the 2024 presidential race.
But it was only recently that the two politicians finally came to terms with the fact they have gone their separate ways in charting the path of the nation’s future, though it is clear that neither of them wishes to burn their bridges, with Coordinating Maritime and Investment Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan now serving as a go-between.
Signs of a rift between the pro-government NasDem Party and the President have been growing since the party decided to nominate Anies last year. Formerly an ally of Jokowi, Anies has emerged as the strongest opposition figure in all presidential election surveys.
The latest blow came last week when NasDem was excluded from a meeting between the President and pro-government parties. “Frankly speaking, NasDem has formed their own coalition [that opposes] what the parties gathered yesterday were looking to build”, President Jokowi said last week when explaining why NasDem was not invited.
It was the first time that the President publicly acknowledged the fact that NasDem, while still part of his Cabinet, was no longer on his side.
NasDem has formed the Coalition for Change and Unity (KPP) with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Democratic Party, the two remaining opposition parties in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, President Jokowi has been trying to stitch a “grand alliance” of the remaining six pro-government parties and form a united front against Anies.
In an interview with CNN Indonesia on Friday, Paloh admitted that given recent developments, NasDem no longer had a place within the ruling coalition. “To say that [my relationship with President Jokowi] is at its lowest point would be to put it at its best. What I fear is whether the relationship has turned [adversarial]”, Paloh said on Friday.
Despite tensions on the surface, political researcher Bawono Kumoro of pollster Indikator Politik believes that both Jokowi and Paloh are still trying to reach a middle ground through Luhut, who has met with Paloh a total of four times over the past six months.
“Their first meeting [in Europe] could very well be a coincidence, but the fact that they met three additional times since then speaks volumes”, Bawono told The Jakarta Post on Monday. “Luhut is President Jokowi’s most trusted man in the Cabinet, and he wouldn’t have kept meeting with Paloh without the President’s approval”.
With Anies’ running mate slot still up for grabs, Bawono said that President Jokowi was aiming to fill that spot with someone who could help ensure his legacy, including the new capital city of Nusantara project in Kalimantan. After meeting with Paloh on Friday, Luhur confirmed that the choice of vice-presidential candidates was one of the topics of discussion.
“We both have a common national interest, and we want to make sure that Pak Jokowi’s success will be carried over into the next administration”, Luhut told reporters on Friday. “We exchanged our views on the right candidates. Pak Surya asked me [about potential running mates], and I gave him my answer”.
The KPP has yet to reveal who will be Anies’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election, but it already has five names in mind, with the final decision left in Anies’ hands. While the PKS has previously pushed for former West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan to run with Anies, the party has since opened the door to other candidates within President Jokowi’s administration.
In April, PKS chairman Ahmad Syaikhu met with Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD to discuss the vice-presidential slot. More recently, the party has also floated the possibility of pairing Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno, who left Gerindra in April, with Anies in a repeat of the 2017 Jakarta regional election.
Meanwhile, political researcher Noory Okthariza of the Jakarta-based think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) sees Luhut’s increasingly frequent meetings with Paloh as a sign that the government is still trying to break up the KPP.
“However, NasDem seems to be firm in its decision to back Anies with the KPP”, Noory told The Jakarta Post on Monday. “President Jokowi and Luhut have little chemistry with the Democratic Party and the PKS, so their remaining option to try and divide the KPP is in trying to influence Paloh and NasDem”.
Despite being left out of the meeting with President Jokowi, NasDem still holds several positions within the President’s Cabinet and Paloh reaffirmed the party’s commitment to supporting the current administration after meeting with Luhut.
But with the political landscape continuing to solidify as the country moves closer to the election, Noory is of the opinion that NasDem will eventually have to make a clean break with President Jokowi.
“For now, Paloh is still considering the timing and how to turn NasDem’s exit from the pro-government coalition into an electoral boost for both the party and Anies”, Noory explained. (ahw)
