Jakarta Globe, Mar 15, 2014
 |
Senior PDI-P officials Puan Maharani and Tjahjo Kumolo holding up handwritten
letters from chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday declaring Joko Widodo
the party’s presidential candidate. (SP Photo/Joanito de Saojoao) |
Jakarta.
The country’s main opposition party has tagged Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as
its presidential candidate for the July 9 election, in a surprise announcement on Friday that brings an end to months of speculation over whether party
chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri would seek another stab at the presidency.
The
announcement by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was widely
welcomed, with analysts saying Joko had cleared the biggest hurdle on the path
to the presidency.
The PDI-P
made the announcement at 2:42 p.m. on its official Twitter account,
@PDI_Perjuangan, saying: “Megawati Soekarnoputri has officially mandated Jokowi
as the 2014 presidential candidate.”
The
governor spoke with reporters during an during an impromptu visit to Marunda,
North Jakarta, saying he was prepared to run in the presidential race.
“I have
been given the blessing of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati to be a presidential
candidate. In God’s name, I am ready.”
Later in
the day, Puan Maharani, a senior PDI-P official and Megawati’s daughter,
confirmed that her mother had ordered all party members to support Joko’s bid,
and had issued a similar call to all voters.
Tjahjo
Kumolo, the PDI-P’s secretary general, said Megawati had made the decision to
nominate Joko on Thursday evening, after concluding that he was the best choice
for moving the country forward.
Sure win
Analysts
have said that getting the PDI-P’s nomination was the biggest challenge for
Joko if he sought to run for president.
“Now that he’s
got the nomination, I think he will win the presidency,” said Muhammad Qodari,
executive director of pollster IndoBarometer.
IndoBarometer’s
latest survey conducted earlier this month showed Joko as the frontrunner with
more than 30 percent of votes, followed by Prabowo Subianto, the founder and
chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), a distant second
with less than 16 percent.
Business
tycon and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie was in third place with 11.8
percent.
“Making the
announcement before the legislative elections will make the PDI-P’s
electability the highest among all the parties,” said Wawan Ichwanudin, a
political science lecturer at the University of Indonesia.
The outcome
of the April 9 legislative election is critical for parties eyeing the July 9
presidential ballot.
In order to
be eligible to nominate a candidate, a party must win of 25 percent of the vote
in the legislative election or 20 percent of seats at the House of
Representatives.
Parties
falling short of this threshold will have to form coalitions with other parties
to make up the numbers.
Polls show
that the PDI-P would get a sizeable boost in votes in the April ballot if it
announced Joko’s candidacy before the legislative election.
‘Historic
decision’
The popular
reaction to the announcement has also been largely positive, with Jokowi, the
governor’s popular nickname, becoming a worldwide trending topic on Twitter as
millions expressed their support for him to become president.
Rival
politicians were among those offering their congratulations.
Luhut
Panjaitan, a Golkar stalwart, praised Megawati for nominating Joko, saying that
the decision was “historic for Indonesia.”
“Mega has
made an extraordinary and historic decision as the country needs a pro-people
leader,” said Luhut, Golkar’s deputy chief patron.
“It’s a
decision from an honest leader to make Indonesia better.”
From within
the PDI-P, longtime Megawati confidant Sabam Sirait joked that Joko would have
to take good care of himself, in a jibe at the governor’s skinny frame.
“We’ve
asked him not to be too tiny. Indonesia need him to stay healthy,” Sabam said.
Running
mate
Following
the announcement, speculation mounted about who the PDI-P would choose to be
Joko’s running mate, with officials from other parties hinting that they might
want to hitch their wagon to the PDI-P’s in order to get the number two slot on
the presidential ticket.
Bima Arya
Sugiarto, a senior politician with the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the
PDI-P had made a “beautiful breakthrough.”
He said the
presidential election would be a three-horse race between Joko, Prabowo and
Aburizal.
“I urge the
PAN to quickly decide what we will do because the political constellation has
changed totally,” Bima said.
“The option
is we can join the PDI-P or form a coalition with Gerindra and Prabowo,” he
added.
PAN has declared its chairman, Hatta Rajasa, who is also the
current chief economics minister, as its presidential candidate.
Jusuf Kalla, the former vice president and a Golkar
stalwart, expressed his willingness to become Joko’s running mate if asked by
the PDI-P.
“I won’t refuse. If it is for the nation, we should be
ready,” he said.
However, Idrus Marham, Golkar’s secretary general, insisted
that the party would not join the PDI-P in a coalition because it was putting
all its support behind Aburizal’s presidential bid.
“The PDI-P has a presidential candidate, and we also have
our own candidate. So how do we form a coalition?” he said.
He said Golkar had no trepidation about the impact of
Friday’s announcement.
“We decided on our own candidate two years ago. We are
prepared. The challenge is how we can convinced people to vote for us,” Idrus
said.
But with Kalla — a far more popular figure than Aburial both
within Golkar and with the political establishment and general public —
throwing his weight behind Joko, analysts are predicting a loss of votes for
Golkar in the legislative election, which in turn will affect its ability to
nominate Aburizal for the presidential ballot.
“Golkar will lose part of its voters because many are still
loyal to Kalla. It will also threaten Aburizal’s chance,” said Ubedillah
Badrun, executive director of the Center for Social and Political Studies.
Kalla has also gained support from the National Awakening
Party (PKB) to team up with Joko, with the party lobbying the PDI-P to form a
coalition even before the legislative election.
Marwan Ja’far, the PKB deputy chairman, said his party and
the PDI-P had “communicated intensively” for a Joko-Kalla ticket in July.
Maruarar Sirait, a veteran PDI-P official, said his party
would need time to decide who would run with Joko.
“We want to be careful to pick the running mate because we
don’t him or her to be a liability,” he said.
Gerindra, meanwhile, said Joko’s nomination would not affect
Prabowo’s popularity.
“According to our own survey, Prabowo’s electability
continues to increase across the country,” said Suhardi, the Gerindra chairman.
He expressed confidence that Prabowo could defeat Joko in
the election.
However, Qodari from IndoBarometer said that with Joko now
in contention, Prabowo’s chances had diminished.
“Surveys have consistently indicated that Prabowo will not
win the presidency if Joko runs,” he said.
The Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
which is holding a big-tent convention to choose its own candidate, also said
it was ready to face off against Joko.
“We have prepared a strategy to face Joko’s nomination. Our
candidates at the convention have been ready to challenge Joko, Prabowo or
Aburizal,” said Andi Nurpati, a Democrat deputy secretary general.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, from
Prabowo’s Gerindra, also voiced his support for Joko’s candidacy, saying that
his boss could help make the country better.
“I will support whoever wants to fix the country and has a
good track record,” he said.
Under the law, Basuki will automatically become the governor
until his term ends if Joko is elected president.
Joko will be required to take leave of office to campaign.
Basuki said that in anticipation of Joko winning the
election, he had proposed Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, a PDI-P legislator, as a
suitable deputy governor once he become governor.
He said that he and Rieke had worked well before in the
House.
Rieke said separately that she and Basuki were old friends.
“I was on his campaign team when he ran for governor of
Bangka-Belitung,” she said, adding that she and Basuki then met again at the
House and had worked together since.
“We we’ve discussed many issues. While we have different
opinions on several issues, we share a common stance on many other issues,” she
said.
Rieke last
year ran in the West Java gubernatorial election but lost.
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