After winning
Indonesia’s closest ever presidential election, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo now faces
what could be his toughest battle yet — winning over his own party.
To do that,
he must deal with Puan Maharani, the politically ambitious daughter of former
president Megawati Sukarnoputri and a powerful figure in the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) that her mother heads and which propelled
Jokowi into the presidential palace.
For some,
there is a risk of a power struggle among the rank-and-file of Indonesia’s most
popular party that could muddle Jokowi’s agenda in parliament, where Puan is
party leader.
“The
leadership of PDI-P is still not united in their support,” one party insider,
who like most party officials, declined to be identified because of the sensitivity
of the matter, said of Jokowi’s backing.
“Puan does
have followers … of course, they are threatened by somebody like Jokowi.”
Puan is heir
to a political dynasty that goes back to her grandfather and founding
president, Sukarno.
Jokowi is the
new face of national politics, seen by some as an upstart who threatens the
grip of the established political elite.
While the
party puts on a united front in public, behind the scenes suspicion simmers,
party insiders say.
Many of the
party’s old guard reluctantly backed Jokowi as their presidential candidate
only after Megawati, well aware her chances of running successfully for the
presidency this time were next to zero, put her own ambitions aside and offered
the nomination to the hugely popular Jakarta governor.
But the
can-do governor who has become Indonesia’s most popular politician nearly did
not make it.
After leading
by as much as 30 percentage points in opinion polls a few months before the
presidential election, infighting and indecisiveness within his party saw the
lead shrink to just five points.
The party was
also seen as having squandered chances of pulling in more votes in April’s
parliamentary election, though it still came out on top.
After the
April vote, Jokowi went public with his disappointment with the results and how
the campaign was run. Media saw that as an unmistakable sign of tension between
the presidential candidate and Puan, who ran the campaign.
But Jokowi,
in an interview with Reuters, denied there was any conflict with Puan: “In our
party there are a lot of political dynamics. I think that’s normal.”
Other top
PDI-P officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Despite his
denial of a rift, Jokowi is likely to be looking over his shoulder at his own
ranks as he prepares to start his five-year term in October, almost as much as
he looks to square off with the opposition.
“Jokowi needs
to make sure he won’t be challenged by his own party in the parliament to
pursue his budget and his policy proposals,” said Phillips Vermonte, political
analyst at Jakarta-based think-tank CSIS.
“He needs to
make sure the party is in his full control.”
Loyal
followers
Like Rahul
Gandhi of India’s Congress Party, Puan is seen by many as PDI-P’s heir
apparent.
“She believes
that the party belongs to the family and she is the heir. There is a sense of
entitlement,” the PDI-P insider said.
Puan, 40, was
elected to parliament in 2009 and was heavily involved in her mother’s failed
presidential campaign that year. She is the PDI-P’s deputy of politics and was
in charge of this year’s legislative campaign.
The Puan
faction believe Jokowi, 53, has climbed up the political ladder too quickly,
butting in front of long-time party loyalists in an unprecedented rise from
small-town mayor to Jakarta governor to the leader of the world’s third largest
democracy in less than a decade.
They fear
Jokowi’s team and all of his supporters will push them out, overhaul the entire
party, and leave Sukarno’s direct descendants out in the cold.
“They … feel
that their positions can be protected by Puan because they feel that Megawati
is too aloof,” the PDI-P insider said. “That’s where [Puan] gets her power and
confidence.”
When Megawati
turned to Jokowi as the party’s presidential candidate, Puan supporters pressed
for the daughter to be his running mate. But the role went to a former vice
president, Jusuf Kalla.
In an
interview with Reuters, Kalla said Puan needs to build up her political
experience over the next five years as a minister or as the speaker of
parliament. Then she could be in a good position to replace him as Jokowi’s
running mate in 2019.
Despite the
tensions within the party, PDI-P officials say that once a decision is made by
Megawati the discussion ends — reflecting the power of the party boss.
“Don’t paint
it as though there’s friction within the party,” PDI-P lawmaker Rieke Diah
Pitaloka told Reuters.
“Arguments
are not unusual, especially within the PDI-P. We can have heated arguments, but
when an instruction comes out, we follow.”
The PDI-P is
expected to hold its next national convention in May 2015 and Puan is expected
to try for party boss if her mother steps down.
Jokowi told
Reuters in an interview last week that he would not go for the top PDI-P job.
This article originally appeared on Insight - Yahoo 7, 23 July.
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