Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Party stalwarts and political analysts agree now is the right time for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to conduct a serious evaluation of its internal management.
The evaluation will include grooming new potential leaders to replace chairwoman Megawati Soekarnowati following a series of election losses.
"Although we are now still focusing on finding evidence of polling violations from the presidential election, we are also concerned about the party's future, including grooming new leaders and evaluating the party's internal management following the losses," Cahyo Kumolo chairman of the PDI-P at the House of Representatives, said Sunday. "We're going to discuss that at the upcoming leaders' meeting."
However, he admitted that with regard to a new leader, the party could not see anyone other than Megawati who could galvanize the trust of the party's grass roots. "To be honest, we still have no idea who would be appropriate to replace Megawati right now," he said.
The PDI-P nominated Megawati as its presidential candidate in the 2004 and 2009 presidential elections, both of which she lost.
Another PDI-P executive, Eva Kusuma Sundari, concurred on Megawati's importance to the party, saying she was considered the only person who could unite the dozens of different interest groups within the party.
"However, I realize we can't rely solely on Megawati as chairwoman forever. But we will still need her to closely monitor the party," she told The Jakarta Post. "Megawati can become the party's chief patron, while at the same time a fresh yet capable figure leads the way as the party's new head."
University of Indonesia political analyst Maswadi Rauf said the PDI-P should have replaced Megawati after she lost her re-election bid in 2004.
"Finding a new leader remains the party's biggest task," he said. "The party should do this whether it likes it or not, because this will be the only way it can survive in the next few years."
A source from the party told the Post it was actually the PDI-P secretary-general, Pramono Anung, who had been next in line for the chair; however, a series of losses in recent regional elections had led to a lack of faith in his performance.
"It's Pramono and Puan Maharani, Megawati's daughter, who were being groomed as the next chairman and secretary-general, but then the recent losses changed everything," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"I've now heard that even Maruarar Sirait is putting himself forward to be the party's leader." Maruarar is one of the members of the PDI-P's central executive board.
Eva criticized the board, which she said was largely responsible for the recent slew of losses.