Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri raising a trademark fist in the airduring the opening of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's
three-day national congress in the party stronghold of Bali on Tuesday
As allegations of deep-seated corruption within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) continue to persist, the party opened its three-day congress at the Grand Inna Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur on Tuesday.
The party of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri has steadily lost support since its peak during the 1999 elections and with Megawati likely to be again nominated party chairwoman, observers say this will achieve little in the way of regenerating and reinvigorating the PDI-P.
Present at the opening ceremony, attended by 1,700 delegates and guarded by 1,200 police or security officers, were Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra) Chairman Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, who was Megawati’s running mate in last year’s presidential elections, and Golkar Chairman Aburizal Bakrie.
Notably, there was nobody present from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, indicating that previous talk of bringing the PDI-P in from the cold after six years in opposition was wishful thinking on behalf of the Democrats, who have been looking for alternatives given ongoing problems with Golkar.
A notably absentee was Megawati’s brother Guruh Sukarnoputra, a choreographer-cum-politician, who claims every five years that he has the support to ascend to the position as chairman of the party.
The only potential flash point expected at the congress is just who will be appointed to the new post of deputy chairperson of the party, with two candidates in the running, both of them offspring of Megawati and grandchildren of founding President Sukarno.
Both, however, have different fathers, with Megawati’s husband, PDI-P advisory council chairman Taufik Kiemas, reportedly pushing for Puan Maharani, with unsubstantiated speculation arguing that Megawati is pushing for her son, Prananda Prabowo, who has emerged from a comparatively obscure and mysterious past.
Puan said Bali was chosen because it was home to some of the party’s greatest achievements. “We hope Bali can revive our spirit of 1999. The spirit which has vanished into thin air,” Puan told SCTV.
On Monday, PDI-P lawmaker Dudhie Makmum Murod testified before the Anti-Corruption Court in Jakarta that two party members, one of whom was identified as Kiemas, attempted to influence him to cover up details of the scandal involving the House of Representative’s selection of Miranda Goeltom as Bank Indonesia senior governor.
The scandal has implicated a number of PDI-P lawmakers, as well as legislators from at least two other parties, including Golkar. It also highlighted the depth of graft within the House of Representatives.
