Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court's confirmation last week of Joko Widodo's presidential win has resulted in the quiet fight among his backers to get louder, with some beginning to complain about an "exclusive" team he has assembled to prepare for the transition to a new government.
Officially, Joko's presidential bid has been backed by five political parties – his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party, the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI).
But aside from those, Joko is known to have gained wide support from an army of volunteers – young activists, intellectuals and academics – often said to have played even more active roles behind the scenes, compared with the official party vehicles, in support of Joko's campaign ahead of the July 9 presidential election.
The transition team he recently formed to prepare for his new government and cabinet lineup, though, has been criticized by some of his own backers as being too "exclusive."
The team is headed by Rini Soemarno, a known close aide to PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Rini is also a former industry and trade minister under Megawati's presidency. Rini's deputies in the team include PDI-P deputy secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto and Nasdem deputy chairman Akbar Faizal.
Although Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan and University of Indonesia lecturer Andi Widjajanto, who are both non-partisan, also serve as Rini's deputies, many former members of Joko's campaign team are dissatisfied, feeling that they've been left behind in the post-election process. They include volunteers and officials from parties not included in the team, whose headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, is called the transition house.
"How's the work mechanism in the transition house? Why is the transition house working exclusively and privately? What are our jobs in the transition house?" said Boni Hargens, a University of Indonesia lecturer who has volunteered for Joko, while visiting the Menteng headquarters along with dozens of dissatisfied volunteers on Tuesday evening.
"The impression [of exclusivity] comes from the Transition house's slow response to volunteers' good intention to participate in their activities. We hope this uncertainty will be cleared up," he added, according to Indonesian news portal liputan6.com.
Andi, who was in the Menteng house at the time, said there was no such thing as Joko's volunteers being excluded from the process undertaken by the transition team.
"Its just that a big meeting, which will gather all [team members], will only take place next week. So [during the meeting] on Wednesday, all the volunteers will be involved," Andi said.
On Tuesday, Boni denied that he and some fellow volunteers of Joko and Vice President-elect Jusuf Kalla were trying to apply pressure to the pair. "We sincerely want to help and guard the Jokowi-JK government so that they can lead this country toward a better direction," he said.
Separately, Sarifuddin Sudding, deputy chairman of Hanura, defended Boni and his comrades, saying they deserved more place in the transition team.
"The Transition house should accommodate as many people as possible; it shouldn't be exclusive. It's inelegant to make people who have fully supported, who have been committed to Jokowi-JK from the start, feel that they are left behind," Sarifuddin told kompas.com.
"If some of Jokowi-JK volunteers do have capacity, have smart ideas as Boni Hargens does, shouldn't they be given a place at the Transition house?"
PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar said he once felt excluded by Joko because no PKB members were recruited as members of the transition team. But that was before the team began intensively communicating with the only Islamic party in the coalition led by the PDI-P.
"At the beginning, when the formation [of the team] was declared, I was surprised. I thought they wanted to leave us behind," Muhaimin said. "Now we no longer feel so. Now we have kept communicating with Hasto and Anies. So it's fine now."
Young vs. old guard
But the potential discord doesn't stop there. Yunarto Wijaya, executive director of think-tank Charta Politica, identified a potential conflict over cabinet seats between senior politicians and the younger members of Joko's coalition.
"Conflict management is easier during a pursuit for power, rather than after the power is in your hands. Power means more vulnerability to conflict. That is the law of nature," Yunarto told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.
"The cabinet lineup is the most sensitive issue. Power sharing is symbolized in the distribution of cabinet seats, possibly between supporting political parties and volunteers.
"But this will be Jokowi's first test: whether he's a mere puppet president as he has been accused of – be it puppet to Megawati, other senior politicians in the coalition or even to the volunteers."
Yunarto said there was no other way for Joko but to stand up to people around him, to underline that choosing members of the cabinet was his prerogative as the nation's president, and that no one should interfere in the process even though they may offer inputs.
As for potential competition between young volunteers and senior politicians, Yunarto doesn't perceive this as something negative or a sign of a rift between Joko's backers.
"Such competition is positive; it allows political discourse and more democratic selection of cabinet members. So Joko must enjoy the competition instead; it will serve as controlling measures in the selection process."
Newcomers?
Another potential problem may come from newcomers, with some party members in the bloc of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto – such as the Golkar Party – reportedly planning to jump ship to Joko's side following the Constitutional Court's announcement of its verdict on the election contest filed by Prabowo, which has reaffirmed Joko's win.
Politicians from current member parties in Joko's coalition, such as Eva Kusuma Sundari of the PDI-P, have emphasized that Joko should not treat old and new members equally when awarding cabinet posts.
"Pak Joko will decide [on new members], but surely there will be different treatment for those who have backed him from the start and newcomers," Eva told merdeka.com on Sunday. "And because [the coalition] should run on the basis of justice, each of their contributions [to Joko's team] will be measured."
But potential new coalition members are believed to demand government posts in exchange for their support. Yunarto said that Joko should not be affected with those parties' claims that he would need them to control majority seats in the House of Representatives – currently dominated by Prabowo's bulkier coalition.
"They're the ones who need Jokowi. It is not Jokowi who needs them. Their claims of him needing them more are only so they can obtain seats in the cabinet," Yunarto said. "But Jokowi must not be lured into horse-trading politics."
"Jokowi must learn from SBY's mathematical logic," he said, referring to outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "His [ruling coalition] controls 75 percent of the seats in the House, but his government has been ineffective; it was still shaken with Century [bank bailout scandal] issues, and more," Yunarto added.
Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jostle-place-jokos-cabinet-heats/