Puan Attends Democratic Congress, PDIP Politician: We Need Communication Between Political Parties

Chairman of the DPR and Chairman of the PDIP DPP Puan Maharani. (Nailin-VOI)

JAKARTA - PDIP politician Aria Bima commented on the presence of the Speaker of the DPR and Chair of the PDIP DPP, Puan Maharani at the Democratic Party's VI Congress event which was held at The Ritz-Carlton, Jakarta, last night. According to him, PDIP does need to establish communication with all political parties.

Aria Bima denied that Puan's presence indicated that PDIP would join the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) Plus. He emphasized that Puan's presence was due to her position as chairman of the DPR as well as fulfilling the invitation representing the PDIP.

"No, I think Mbak Puan puts him in a position, one, he is also the chairman of the DPR who is close to all political parties. On the one hand, it was indeed an invitation to the PDI-P to attend the Democratic Congress," said Aria Bima at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, 26 February.

"And I appreciate that Mbak Puan is quite broad in communicating with cross-political parties. Because at this time, we really need communication regarding matters related to cooperation between political parties in the government," he continued.

Regarding joining the government, Aria Bima emphasized that PDIP will clearly discuss this in the Party Congress which will be held in the near future.

So far, Aria added, the relationship between PDIP and Democrats has been good. However, Aria admitted that he did not know how detailed the relationship between PDIP General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri and the Chairman of the Democratic Party High Council, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

"The relationship is good in our functional understanding, yes. From the past, if we look at the regional elections and activities in the DPR, the PDI and the Democratic Party always maintain their respective positions and still respect each other," said Aria.

"When it comes to Mrs. and Mr. SBY, I think those who know Mr. SBY and Mrs. Mbak themselves. But PDI and Democrats are always fine," he concluded.