It was hoped that a host of meetings among party elites would provide a breath of fresh air in national politics by enabling reconciliation in a divided society. That is not at all what happened, however.
After the July 13 get-together between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, his opponent in the 2019 presidential election, there has been a flurry of meetings among political heavyweights. On Monday, 22 July 2019, the chairmen of four political parties – notably without the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) – met at the office of the central executive board of the NasDem Party. NasDem chairman Surya Paloh was the host. On Wednesday, 24 July 2019, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto met PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. At the same time, Surya Paloh invited Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan to his office and spoke about the 2024 election.
After the Constitutional Court ruling put an end to the election dispute, Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno dissolved the coalition that had backed their presidential election campaign, declaring the political parties free to go their own way. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chose firmly to remain in the opposition. Gerindra, the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) were not clear about their respective political stance. Following the termination of the Prabowo-Sandi coalition, the Jokowi-Ma\'ruf Amin national campaign team will soon be dissolved as well.
This has led to political regrouping. Positively viewed, meetings within the political elite are fine. After going through a brutal campaign for the April 17 election that resulted in division in the community, the meetings of the political elite seem to convey the message that the fight is over. Let\'s unite again. However, politics should hold on to values and adhere to basic principles, rather than just be about maneuvers to gain power.
Yet the latter is the impression we get. The high-level meetings are only an effort by party leaders to increase or maintain their bargaining power, even though they are framed by the phrase of consensus. When a political pendulum is balanced, another political maneuver emerges to counterbalance it. The picture of the latest political developments lends credence to the ancient truth that there are no eternal friends or opponents in politics, only interests. Interests in power are pursued to control economic or political resources.
Indonesian political reality has not moved on from tactics and maneuvers to gain power. Harold Laswell interprets politics as who gets what and how. Principles, values and ethics are not variables to be considered to gain power.
The meetings among political elites are needed. However, some fundamental agreement needs to be built before and after such meetings, for example an agreement to strengthen Pancasila as the state ideology, or an agreement on how the presidential system can be strengthened, how power can be used for people\'s welfare or how pervasive corruption must be eradicated. This basic principle of state and government must be agreed upon, not just the distribution of power.