JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Sabam Sirait, a senior politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), revealed that PDI-P patron leader Megawati Soekarnoputri had sent a signal for giving her blessing to popular Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to be nominated as a presidential candidate for the July’s 2014 presidential election.
“The question is when the right momentum (to announce Jokowi’s nomination). It would be in the last minutes, not now on worries Jokowi will be heavily attacked,” said Sabam, as quoted by Kompas.com (Oct. 31).
Sabam, the former Secretary General of the largest opposition party, confirmed that Jokowi currently has good and close relationship with Megawati. He also said that Jokowi has secured supports from PDI-P members across the country.
Jokowi has just been serving as Jakarta Governor for a year. But he, along with Jakarta Vice Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, have succeed to manage some fundamental impacts in the city’s bureaucracy and the city itself.
Despite a lot of existing complicated problems of the city, needs to be solved such as floods and gridlock traffic, Jokowi and Ahok are showing their leadership and strong willingness to build new Jakarta city as they have promised.
One of the monumental example was a series of tests of the so-called lelang jabatan (a local leader open-recruitment). Another great achievement was the revitalization of Tanah Abang market through an persuasive approaches. As a result, Jokowi has topped various surveys on potential presidential candidates.
The respected PDI-P Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, meanwhile, has yet made direct mention about Jokowi and the presidential race, but clearly stated that she supports regeneration of leadership. In the last national meeting of PDI-P, she repeatedly praised Jokowi.
Most people, including observers, have highly suggested Megawati to take respected role as the so-called “Ibu Bangsa” (a Stateswoman) or a kingmaker.
Jokowi’s nomination, in a context of regeneration of leadership, could be one of Megawati’s best legacies for the country. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)