IO, Jakarta – The Democratic Party will hold its fifth Congress at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, Jakarta on March 14-16, 2020. This was announced by Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party Syarief Hasan. “Yes, we have formed a Steering Committee and Executive Committee for the fifth Democratic Congress,” Syarief revealed at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Tuesday (03/10/2020).
He ensured the fifth Democrat Congress would be held two months ahead of schedule. The congress is supposed to be held in May 2020. According to him, the congress was held earlier because the party wanted to consolidate facing the 2020 elections. “We want to take part in the elections; because of that, we want the election for the Chairman position to be a quick decision. Hopefully there will be new decisions issued later,” he said.
The names of the two sons of the Chairman of Democratic Party, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), namely Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) and Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono (Ibas) have the opportunity to become the Chairman of the Democratic Party, replacing his father. But the Director of Political and Public Policy Studies (P3S), Jerry Massie, said that AHY had a greater chance to lead the Democratic party and become a candidate for President in 2024. “AHY is currently conducting a political safari in Indonesia. This is part of the AHY’s political branding ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election,” Jerry said when contacted on Wednesday (11/03/2020).
Jerry predicted in the Congress later, SBY would sit as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, while the position of Chairman would definitely be given to AHY. According to him, this is part of the leadership relay. On the one hand it is positive, but on the other hand, this step is part of the emergence of political dynasties. “But I see that it does not matter whether AHY has begun to mature politically, especially since he had already taken part in the DKI Jakarta Regional Election, even though he had lost in the end,” Jerry said.
Over the last few months, AHY and Ibas have been diligently meeting regional officials in various provinces and districts/cities. Democratic Party politician Herzaky Mahendra said that Ibas is around to fence off or prevent other candidates outside the board who suddenly came forward as candidates for the Chairman position at the congress. “Ibas collects a letter of support as an internal security effort so that the Chairman position does not fall out of the Democratic leadership core, people who are currently struggling to save the Party, and not give the position to any former executive who has long left the Party, moved parties, or political adventurers who capitalize on money politics,” said Herzaky.
AHY is said to be a strong candidate for the general chair at the 2020 Democratic Congress. However, the Vice Chairman of the Democratic Party, AHY, responded casually. According to him, the Democratic Party has mechanisms and rules in accordance with the Statutes/By-Laws. “And our general chairman, Mr. SBY, of course, also has preferences on how the party will improve in the future,” said AHY.
However, not only prepared to become the Chairman of the Democratic Party, AHY has even expressed his interest in presenting himself in the upcoming Presidential Election in 2024. AHY said that, at this time, he was still focused on capturing the aspirations of people throughout Indonesia and consolidating the party. He also did not want to assume anything about the 2024 Presidential Election and wanted to prepare himself to carry out the tasks he would carry.
“I really do not want to be too far in supposition. I will continue to prepare myself. For me, I want to continue to prepare myself to carry out any tasks that, By God’s Will, is charged to me,” he said after the Democratic Party’s Regional Leadership Council Consolidation Meeting (DPD) of East Nusa Tenggara in Kupang, Tuesday (02/18/2020).
For AHY, what is important to do now is to stay with the Democratic Party, visiting regions to greet the community and hear their problems and aspirations. Even though today, Democrats are not in the national government, a number of regional heads are Democratic cadres. In addition to internal party consolidation, AHY’s visit to NTT was to prepare for the upcoming 2020 elections.
Other than AHY, the name General (ret.) Gatot Nurmantyo later emerged as one of the alternative candidates in the Democratic congress. Gatot was encouraged to become a candidate for the Democratic Party by one of the party’s figures from the DPP.
Democratic Founder Achmad Mubarok acknowledged the issue, but he refused to divulge who came up with the name Gatot Nurmantyo as the candidate for chairman. There has been no direct conversation between the cadres and Gatot himself. According to him the name Gatot was encouraged by the DPP staff, young people.
Related to the emergence of the name Gatot, Syarief Hasan denied the discourse. “No,” said Syarief. He stressed the possibility of Gatot being able to become a Democratic chairman is highly improbable. Moreover, Gatot is not a party cadre. “He is not even a Democrat,” said Syarief.
Senior Democrat Politician, Max Sopacua sees things differently. He considered it quite possible if Gatot Nurmantyo advanced in the congress as a candidate for the Democratic chairman. According to Max, there are rules in the party’s Articles of Association that require the chairman to be a cadre. Not only that, there is a minimum limit for candidates to take part in the party before advancing in the Democratic congress. But these rules can be revised. This depends on the agreement of the congress participants later.
“It can be done like that, if they (Democrats) want to do that, because, after all, I think, only the holy verses of the Koran, the Gospel and other holy books are not subjected to change, but when we talk about Statutes/By-laws (AD/ART) if you want to change it, you can go ahead,” Max Sopacua explained. (Dan)