Yustinus Paat, Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, have been rumored to be considering a move to the Golkar Party amid post-election dynamics that have seen the first family parting ways with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
It was the Golkar Party that nominated Gibran as a running mate for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a move that angered PDI-P leaders.
Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto said earlier this week that both Jokowi and Gibran "have been accepted as members of the Golkar family".
Airlangga, who serves as the chief economic minister in the cabinet, noted that the Golkar Party has demonstrated full support for the government throughout Jokowi's two presidential terms.
However, Airlangga underlined that Jokowi is a "national asset" belonging to all parties, and it's up to the president whether he will formally join Golkar.
Meanwhile, in Solo, Central Java, Gibran neither denied nor confirmed reports of his potential move to Golkar when asked by reporters on Friday. "We aren't moving anywhere officially at the moment," the elected vice president said.
Golkar is building closer ties with the president's family as Jokowi began to distance himself from the PDI-P.
In another sign of growing affection between them, Golkar recently endorsed Jokowi's son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, to either seek reelection as the mayor of Medan or contest the North Sumatra gubernatorial election in the November 27 local polls.
The maneuver guarantees Bobby the platform to contest after the PDI-P ditched him as part of its growing feud with the first family.
Having nominated Gibran and publicly shown loyalty to Jokowi, Golkar rose from third to second in the legislative polls held in tandem with the presidential election, trailing the PDI-P by just 1 percentage point.
Apart from the electoral advantage for Golkar, getting closer to Jokowi also boosted Airlangga's credibility internally. Former Golkar leaders and various affiliates of the party have credited Airlangga for the election success and vowed to reelect him as chairman for the next five-year term.
On the other hand, the PDI-P is the biggest loser in the last election. Not only did it fail to win the presidency, its share of seats in the House of Representatives is set to drop by four percentage points.
Moreover, the PDI-P is losing its key asset, the populist president, whose job approval rating remains above 75 percent six months into retirement.
The PDI-P naturally expected Jokowi to support its presidential nominee, former Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, and his running mate, Mohammad Mahfud MD.
However, for reasons known only to his inner circle, Jokowi silently shifted allegiance to Prabowo, his defense minister, and allowed his son to become a running mate mere weeks before candidate registration began in October.
From there, everything seemed to go against the PDI-P's way while Golkar gained the most.
Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/news/jokowi-gibran-linked-to-golkar-mov