Megawati Soekarnoputri- Prabowo Subianto Duet Declaration In Bantar Gebang For The Presidential Election, May 24, 2009

Megawati-Prabowo Declaration At Bantar Gebang TPA, Bekasi, West Java For The 2009 Presidential Election. (Between/Prasetyo Utomo)

JAKARTA - Today's memory, 15 years ago, May 24, 2009, the couple Megawati Soekarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto declared their duet at the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Disposal Site (TPST), Bekasi, West Java. The choice of the place was deliberately chosen by both of them as populers.

Previously, Megawati was encouraged by the defenders of the small people. This belief is based on its sensitivity which often side with the small people. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) also splashed its image as a child's party.

Soekarno's struggle to escape the shackles of colonialism could not be separated from his alignment with the small people. He was willing to be imprisoned and exiled to defend the little people. This spirit was later adopted by his son, Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Megawati often sided with the small people. He also brought the PDIP to care. He did not want small people to only be used by capital owners. Little Wong must be empowered. That is what made Megawati's name hailed by all Indonesian people in the New Order (Orba) era.

Megawati appeared like a symbol of people's resistance to the repression of the New Order. The small people support Megawati, and vice versa. In fact, thanks to the people's support, Megawati was then able to taste the power as President of Indonesia.

As a result, PDIP was splashed with blessings. The party, which was once boyged by the New Order, is remembered as the party of the small people. All of them are proven by most candidates for PDIP-orbited officials who come from small people. Not only dominated by families of people with capital or foreign deposits.

Political expert Cornelis Lay translates Bung Karno's marhaenism ideology for PDIP. When parties and officials generally position themselves as centerclasses that are ready to spread materials and projects to help wong cilik, and still enforce dynastic politics and elite hegemony, PDI-P actually creates political actions where small people are proposed to be state managers/candidates/cabup/cawabup/kawal/kawal/dll..

Finally, small people can become public officials through PDIP, for example Jokowi. There are traders who can become DPR, there are parking attendants who can become regional heads, etc. It's a new tradition that PDIP started. The tradition was imitated by all political parties. Finally, the face (dynasties) who relied on the names of their parents and descendants fell at the TPS. New names from small people actually emerged as public officials," said Anthony Tonggo in the book Tokoh-Tokoh Inspirational From NTT (2021).

Citra Megawati as a defender of wong cilik did not then fade when she no longer served as Indonesia's number one person. Her side to the small people remains the same. Megawati also showed this when she was ambitious to run again as President of Indonesia in the 2009 presidential election.

He showed this ambition by cooperating with Prabowo Subianto as his partner. The two then chose the Bantar Gebang TPST as the center of the declaration on May 24, 2009. The selection of Bantar Gebang seems intentional as a form of symbol Megawati never forgets the little people.

"Sunday, May 24, 2008 Megawati and Prabowo declared a duet for presidential and vice presidential candidates at a fairly lively ceremony in the integrated waste disposal site of Bantar Gebang, Bekasi City. A symbol of kere' is a symbol that these two leaders are ready to fight to raise the dignity of the poor who have been oppressed by foreign powers and conglomerates," explained Tjipta Lesmana in the book Political and Political Bola (2013).