March 20, 2023
JAKARTA – Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chair of the country’s biggest political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), held a meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at Merdeka Palace in Central Jakarta on Saturday during which the two politicians discussed issues from foreign policy to food sovereignty.
PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said the Saturday discussion was part a regular series of meetings for the two politicians and that, this time, it had been Megawati’s turn to visit Jokowi, after the last meeting in Batu Tulis, Bogor, West Java, in October of last year.
“The meeting between the two leaders was to discuss a number of problems currently plaguing the nation,” Hasto said in a statement made available on Saturday.
Hasto described the meeting as cordial, with President Jokowi serving the Javanese soup lodeh, a favorite of Megawati’s father Sukarno, seafood fried rice, chicken stew and crackers.
Politics leading up to the 2024 general election was also on the agenda, Hasto added.
Following a speech by Megawati in January of this year in which she claimed Jokowi was a low-level politician who would not have been President had it not been for the PDI-P’s backing in 2014, the relationship between the two politicians has appeared strained.
Jokowi, who was reportedly piqued by the speech, has pressed ahead with his backing of Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as the presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential election.
Megawati has resisted backing Ganjar for the presidential ticket and is expected to announce the PDI-P’s candidate for the country’s top job in June.