Relations between political parties in the coalition supporting Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin are growing increasingly dynamic. This is believed to be linked to the tug of war for the distribution of state power.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS— Relations between political parties in the coalition supporting the recently reelected president, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and vice president-elect Ma’ruf Amin are growing increasingly dynamic on the heels of a series of meetings between party elites in the past three days. These meetings are believed to be linked to efforts to influence state power distribution following the election of Jokowi and Amin.
On Wednesday (24/7/2019), Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto visited the residence of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri on Jl. Teuku Umar in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
The two party leaders that were on opposing sides in the 2019 election dined together for around 90 minutes.
At the same time, NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh received Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan at his party’s headquarters.
On 22 July, Surya had received the leaders of three political parties in the Jokowi-Amin coalition, namely those of the Golkar Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP). In the meeting, in which no PDI-P representative was present, it was decided that the Jokowi-Amin coalition would not accept additional political parties as members.
Megawati-Prabowo meeting
On Wednesday, Megawati received Prabowo in a small room located beside her home’s guest reception room. During the visit, Prabowo was accompanied by Gerindra Party secretary-general Ahmad Muzani and deputy chair Edhy Prabowo. Gerindra is known to be grooming Muzani as a potential People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker.
Upon their arrival at Megawati’s home, Prabowo and his entourage were greeted by Megawati’s two children, Puan Maharani and Prananda Prabowo, alongside PDI-P senior politician Pramono Anung, PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto and State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Budi Gunawan.
Budi and Pramono were also present at Jokowi and Prabowo’s first postelection meeting at the Lebak Bulus MRT station on 13 July.
Overcoming differences
After the meeting with Prabowo, Megawati said Indonesia’s political system did not recognize coalitions. She then gave the PDI-P her approval to work together with Prabowo and Gerindra.
Megawati said dialogue between elites should be nurtured despite political differences for the sake of the greater good. Megawati also urged Prabowo to meet again with Jokowi. She said she was ready to facilitate such a meeting. However, she reaffirmed that Jokowi had the final say on coalition matters.
“Mas [Prabowo] wants to meet with the President. If I am allowed to deliver the message, I will be happy to do so and to take him to the President. However, if Mas [Prabowo] prefers to talk directly to Pak Jokowi, he will receive him warmly,” Megawati said.
Prabowo said he was ready to end political differences. He also invited Megawati to visit his home in Hambalang, Bogor. “We may have different non-principle political stances sometimes. [However], despite such differences, I believe that, in the end, we all want a harmonious relationship to solve national matters together,” Prabowo said.
Huge coalition
Regarding the statements from Golkar, NasDem, the PKB and the PPP that no new party should join the Jokowi-Amin coalition, PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said different opinions from coalition members were understandable. He said the Megawati-Prabowo meeting had been long in the making and should not be seen as being exclusively about coalition and Cabinet issues.
“Room for cooperation may also exist in the legislative, the MPR, regional elections or in various other issues, such as an agreement on our political system in the future,” he said.
Separately, Golkar chairman Airlangga Hartarto said the Megawati-Prabowo meeting was part of political communication. He said that communication between political parties should remain active despite the parties having opposing stances in the 2019 election.
Airlangga said he hoped Golkar and other parties in the Jokowi-Amin coalition would obtain MPR leadership seats.
Airlangga University political science lecturer Airlangga Pribadi Kusman said in Surabaya that the actions and reactions between political parties in the past few days were linked to the tug of war in the distribution of power in the lead-up to the 2019-2024 administration.
Airlangga said that, as the chairwoman of the biggest party in Jokowi’s coalition, Megawati had a key role in determining this distribution of power. The reaction from the four other parties in Jokowi’s coalition was triggered by the possibility of Gerindra joining the coalition. This may reduce the number of seats available for them.
Airlangga said this showed that almost all political powers wished to join the government. In this context, Jokowi had to be careful, as a huge coalition would have an adverse effect on governance and democracy. Jokowi may be held hostage by bigger political interests. (AGE/NIA/INA/DVD/BOW)