President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will not join any political parties as aresult of a conflict in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) after he did not support the party’s pair of State leadership candidates in the 2024 presidential election. The president instead supported presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto who ran along with his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
A source from the Presidential Office said President Jokowi will establish his own mass organization or civil society group by unifying all Jokowi’s supporting groups under one umbrella organization.
“Jokowi will not join Golkar Party nor Gerindra Party. He will neither take over the PDI-P. It has been decided that he will establish a civil society group,” the source told Indonesia Business Post on April 19, 2024.
The source said two weeks before Idul Fitri, Jokowi invited all leaders of Jokowi’s volunter group for an iftar or breaking-of-the-fast gathering at the Palace. At the event, Jokowi shared his ideas with the group leaders to establish a strong and massive mass organization that will unite more than 100 Jokowi’s supporting groups.
“There are tens of millions even 20 millions of supporters who are faithful to Jokowi. If we add the number of volunteer groups who have been loyal to Jokowi during his two terms of presidency, there will be ablout one hundred of them.” he said, while citing that around 70 to 80 percent of the Indonesian people are satisfied with Jokowi’s achivement.
The organization will have a structure from national level until neighborhood units with all members have their own membership card. Seven leaders of the big volunteers group will serve as advisers of the big organization.
“All of Jokowi’s supporter groups will be merged into one organization. So, we will not call it an alliance nor a coalition nor a federation.” he said.
The source said that Jokowi decided to establish the civil society group based on the experience of the Western nations, where civil society groups contribute to bringing prosperity to the people. While based on their observation, the majority of political parties tend to be power hungry and breed conflict among the politicians.
“During the election, political parties will beg for Jokowi’s support. When Jokowi orders his supporters to vote for certain political party or presidential candidate, they will obey him. Therefore, Golkar, Gerindra have to be nice to Jokowi,” he said, while adding that presidential candidates and political parties who attack Jokowi during the 2024 election will lose support from Jokowi’s supporters.
The organization of Jokowi’s supporter groups will support programs launched by the elected President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, including the free lunch program for school children. In addition to politics, the organization will also involve in social, economic and cultural activities.
The fund for the establishment of the umbrella organization for Jokowi supporters will derive from several projects managed by the president’s staff.
