Megawati Issues Circular Letter, Emphasizes PDIP as a Balancing Party, Not an Opposition

JAKARTA - PDIP Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a circular letter to all her cadres regarding PDIP's position as a balancing party. The letter numbered 1275/IN/DPP/VII/2026 was signed by Megawati on July 1, 2026.

In the letter, Megawati began the explanation by referring to the PDIP Congress agreement in Bali in early August 2025. One of the congress decisions confirmed PDIP's position as a balancing party because the Indonesian democratic system does not recognize opposition.

"Indonesian democracy is not a power-blocking bloc democracy, but a democracy based on people's sovereignty and constitutional supremacy," Megawati said in the letter, Wednesday, July 8.

Megawati explained that the meaning of the balancing party is to continue to correct government policies that are considered wrong. However, in the constitutional system, this attitude is not known by the term opposition.

Megawati then quoted a number of provisions, starting from Article 4 paragraph (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia in 1945. According to him, legislation also does not recognize the legal status of "opposition parties" or "official opposition".

"The Constitution actually regulates the division of power (separation of powers) and the mechanism of mutual supervision and mutual balance (checks and balances)," he said.

Megawati asked all cadres, including those in parliament, to understand the concept, namely to continue to correct government policies without positioning themselves as the opposition.

According to Megawati, criticism of the government does not necessarily give birth to an exclusive attitude as an opposition to the government.

"The understanding of the non-recognition of the opposition as a state institution is actually not a new view for the PDI Perjuangan," he said.

"This attitude has a long historical root in the political journey of the party and my own leadership," he said.

Megawati continued, the term balancing party was used in the New Order era. At that time, PDIP was labeled as the opposition party against Golkar.

According to Megawati, the label is not appropriate because he is fighting for the establishment of democracy, not building an opposition bloc in parliamentary democracy.

"Therefore, the PDI-P as a balancing party does not position itself as a force that rejects the government a priori," he said.