IO, Jakarta – Once the Indonesia Onwards Coalition is established, leaving the Democrat Party, the National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional – “PAN”), and the Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera – “PKS”) outside of the Government, the primary focus of the party coalition will be to provide support for Joko Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin’s regime. Nevertheless, all political parties have an inherent right to fraternize with the opposing parties. “All parties have the sovereignty to meet with anyone they please. However, for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan – “PDIP”), the priority scale for socializing has moved downwards after Jokowi’s Second Term Cabinet is established,” said PDIP’s General Secretary Hasto Kristiyanto stated in Ismail Marzuki Park, Jakarta, on Saturday (02/11/2019).
Hasto refused to respond to the maneuver made by the National Democrat (“NasDem”) Party, which held a meeting with PKS last week. PDIP will not follow in NasDem’s footstep of maneuvering towards political elites. He stated that PDIP cadres will move out and meet with constituents in order to introduce President Jokowi’s programs only. “We cannot interfere with what other parties do. However, it would be painful if they (cadres) turn out to be a thorn in our side. How could the elites want to hurt each other? Absolutely not. These elites want to show that politics is something related to idealism: politics should help develop Indonesia to become better, more advanced. Therefore, politics should not be filled with things whose purpose is contrary to the good nature of politics itself,” he said.
Hasto stated that the meeting shows that each party has its own strategies, its own methods in getting ahead according to their political directions. “However, for PDIP, politicking is about maintaining an ideological identity focused on the people, the nation, and the development of a prosperous and fair community,” he said.
Political observer Faizal Assegaf stated through his Twitter account @faizalassegaf that PDIP is upset because of the meeting between Nasdem and PKS. According to him, PDIP’s stance as a party is different from that of the President’s, who maintained a relaxed reaction to the meeting. This is because Jokowi is sure that the meeting will not cause his coalition to crack. As his Tweet on Sunday (03/11/2019) said, “PDIP gets upset. Unlike @jokowi who is relaxed in responding to Surya Paloh’s maneuver, and Jokowi even stated that the NasDem-PKS meeting does not “weaken the pro-government coalition”.” (Dan)