JAKARTA: The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has said it remains committed to supporting the administration of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, even as several ministers consider resigning over the President’s apparent support of his son’s nomination on a rival ticket.
The split between the First Family and the PDI-P, Jokowi’s chief political vehicle for more than two decades, has raised questions about whether the largest party in the ruling coalition will pull its support from the government altogether.
“Serving as ministers, at least for the PDI-P, means taking responsibility for the nation, as the job is to assist the Indonesian President, whoever the President is,” PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said in a statement on Saturday (Nov 18).
While he acknowledged that some PDI-P-aligned ministers had reservations about continuing to work for the President, he said the party never put pressure on its ministers to quit the cabinet.
Relations between the PDI-P and Jokowi reached a nadir with the nomination of his son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as the running mate of frontrunner and PDI-P rival Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party.
Analysts say Jokowi is seeking to use the nomination to retain his influence after his second and final term in the nation’s highest office ends next year.
With Gibran on the ticket, Prabowo has gained a comfortable lead ahead of the start of the official campaign season next month, a recent survey has found. His opponents, PDI-P presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo and opposition presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, occupy second and third place, respectively.
The opinion poll showed a shift in the preference of young voters and loyal Jokowi supporters from Ganjar to Prabowo after the latter named Gibran his running mate and despite criticism that Jokowi was trying to build his own political dynasty.
PDI-P politicians have expressed their disappointment at the President’s perceived betrayal of his own party, which has stood by Jokowi amid a number of controversies, and have accused the President of manipulating the law to pursue his political ambition.
After a controversial Constitutional Court ruling that allowed Gibran to circumvent a vice presidential candidate age minimum, several PDI-P-affiliated ministers considered resigning from the cabinet, party politician Deddy Yevri Sitorus said last week, as reported by Tempo.co.
The ministers in question, Deddy said, had met with PDI-P matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri (pic) and discussed their desire to quit the cabinet. The party chief insisted they stay in the government and keep their commitment to supporting Jokowi’s administration.
“Megawati said that being a minister was about being dutiful to the nation, to the people,” Deddy said, describing the conversation between Megawati and the unidentified ministers, as quoted by Tempo.co.
“As long as they are still needed by the President, the President is allowed to make use of them," Deddy added.
"But if the President believes that ministers from the PDI-P are no longer needed because they are not what he wished for, he is allowed to remove them. But we will not have our ministers leaving as [the position is] a matter of duty to the people.”
There are currently eight PDI-P members serving in the cabinet: Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly, Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Abdullah Azwar Anas, Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Minister Teten Masduki, Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga and Deputy Home Minister John Wempi Wetipo.
Megawati broke her silence last week, following an open rift between the party and the First Family over Gibran’s nomination. She said she deplored the recent ethics scandal at the Constitutional Court, in which its chief justice Anwar Usman was found guilty of an ethics breach for using his position to sway a ruling that enabled his nephew-in-law Gibran to run for vice president.
Megawati’s displeasure over the perceived betrayal by Jokowi, as reflected in her speech, made it clear that the ruling party and the First Family had gone their separate ways, said analyst Ahmad Khoirul Umam.
But Megawati’s “apparent effort to refrain from explicitly mentioning Prabowo, Gibran or Jokowi” and her decision not to withdraw the party from the cabinet were “indicative of the party’s heedfulness and anticipation of a changing political landscape should the presidential election advance to a runoff,” Umam told The Jakarta Post.
With all three candidate pairs polling below 50 per cent – the threshold to score a first-round win in the three-way race in February – analysts say there is likely to be a runoff between the top two contenders, which would take place on June 26.
