January 13, 2025
JAKARTA – Megawati Soekarnoputri has urged members who had lost faith in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to resign immediately amid alleged attacks on her leadership ahead of the national congress in April, when the party is slated to hold its chairmanship race.
The party celebrated its 52nd anniversary on Friday with a renewed focus on internal consolidation against what it claimed were external efforts to cause friction ahead of the congress, following the party’s public fallout with former member Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The PDI-P has seen the departure or expulsion of a growing number of prominent members over their support for rival candidates Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, instead of the party-backed pair Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD.
In a three-hour speech during the party’s anniversary celebrations on Friday, Megawati said the PDI-P would not be deterred by defectors.
“For those who are dissatisfied with the party, simply leave. At least [you] will still retain your honor [by leaving] instead of being fired. […] Just be decisive and find another party,” she said.
“It’s exhausting dealing with [members] whose hearts and minds are elsewhere,” she continued, noting that keeping them around would be disrespectful to members who were committed to the party.
Relations between the PDI-P and Jokowi soured ahead of the presidential election last February. The party accused the then president of intervening in a controversial Constitutional Court ruling in October 2023 that paved the way for Gibran to run as Prabowo’s running mate, with the pair eventually going on to win the 2024 race with Jokowi’s tacit support.
The feud came to a head in mid-December last year, when Megawati formally expelled Jokowi, Vice President Gibran and Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution, Jokowi’s son-in-law, from the party.
Read also: Megawati, Jokowi feud intensifies after his dismissal
Following his ouster, the party accused Jokowi of seeking ways to replace secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto, Megawati’s trusted aide, with a loyalist so he could influence the course of the party congress and prevent the PDI-P matriarch’s reelection.
Jokowi has denied all allegations that he is trying to influence the course of the PDI-P’s leadership race.
In her speech on Friday, Megawati again suggested that several figures were plotting to topple her as party chair and mount a takeover during the national congress.
“Some [individuals] want to have my position, but they’re not saying so openly,” she said, without naming names.
Megawati is the longest-serving chairperson of any political party in Indonesia.
Speculation that Jokowi was looking to take over the nationalist party intensified last week when Effendi Simbolon, an ousted member, publicly suggested that Megawati should resign after Hasto was named as a suspect in a bribery case.
“[Megawati] must resign as a form of accountability,” Effendi said, after meeting with the former president at his Central Java hometown of Surakarta. He added that the bribery case in which Hasto had been implicated “is a serious problem”, and that all party leaders must answer to the public.
This prompted outrage from Megawati loyalists, who marked a white cloth banner with red thumbprints during the party’s anniversary on Friday to show support for her reelection.
Read also: PDI-P’s Hasto files pretrial motion against graft suspect status
Analysts generally believe that Effendi’s call for a change in leadership will not pose a real challenge because it did not come from an active member.
But some have said the party should use its anniversary as an opportunity for introspection after its defeat in last year’s presidential election and decline in its overall share of votes, despite coming out on top in the legislative election.
“The PDI-P must think carefully about its strategies going forward for the next five years,” said Adi Prayitno of think tank Parameter Politik Indonesia.
It needed to think in particular about whether it was time for regeneration, how to unite its members and how to position itself as regards the Prabowo administration, he said.