Carlos Paath & Yeremia Sukoyo – Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo says he intends to decline an invitation to take part in the Democratic Party's convention to select its candidate for next year's presidential election.
"I am a cadre of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P]," Joko said on Monday, adding that he wasn't interested in running for president next year. "Who would want to be a president, anyway?" he asked.
The governor was responding to a question regarding how he would feel if he was "accidentally" elected president, a reference to a past interview in which Joko said that he became the Solo mayor and Jakarta governor "by accident."
There were rumors that Joko was considering running for the presidency and that he was ready to pass on his governorship to his deputy, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. But Basuki said that Joko had not discussed the issue with him.
"There have never been such talks. We're already overwhelmed with issues in Jakarta," Basuki said at City Hall on Monday. He added that he and Joko were currently focused on recruiting new school principals and heads of community health centers.
The Democrats briefly attempted to court Joko when it became seemed that none of its members would be suitable for seeking the presidency.
National Mandate Party (PAN) chief advisor Amien Rais said his party was still open to candidates from other political parties to run alongside party chairman Hatta Rajasa next year. Amien said a Hatta-Joko ticket was possible, but PAN would also consider Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) founder Prabowo Subianto.
"In my opinion, the most obvious candidates to run with Hatta would be Joko or Prabowo, but there are others. We've put some thought into running either Prabowo with Hatta or Joko with Hatta or the other way around. We're open, still open [to that]," Amien said on Monday.
Amien said that although PAN had decided to endorse Hatta, a different scenario could still materialize. He said that if PAN failed to generate enough votes during the legislative election it would consider putting forth Hatta as a vice presidential candidate.
"It would be great if PAN was able to reach the double-digit figure. But if PAN fails to obtain 10 percent, the position of having a vice presidential candidate is still acceptable," Amien said.
The former speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly said he wished to see several people competing in next year's general elections, regardless of gender, military background or whether they were from Java. "I think potential figures should come out. We should let the people decide," he said.
Joko and Prabowo have both polled well in surveys of public opinion.
Despite Joko's popularity the PDI-P has yet to say if it will put him forward as a presidential candidate. PDI-P has asked Joko to focus on Jakarta, because he was only sworn in as Jakarta governor last October.
PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri has expressed interest in running, and Joko has said he will defer to her.