Jokowi Starts Sharing Power For The 2024 Presidential Election Imbal: Future KKN Practices Will Get Worse?

PSI politician Grace Natalie was appointed as Commissioner of MIND ID based on the General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) in mid-May 2024. (Instagram/@gracenat)

JAKARTA President Jokowi's circle has again received attention. Not only his son and son-in-law, but Jokowi is also accused of deliberately placing his supporters in strategic positions as a support service in the 2024 Presidential Election.

The success of Gibran Rakabuming Raka as vice president-elect for the 2024-2029 period is considered the most horrendous form of political dynasties in Indonesia.

But Jokowi's efforts to continue his power through his family did not stop there.

His youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, is widely reported to be running in the Jakarta gubernatorial election, after the Supreme Court (MA) added an interpretation of the age limit for regional head candidates in the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada, thus allowing the PSI General Chair to run.

Meanwhile, Jokowi's son-in-law and Kaesang's wife, Erina Gudono, are projected to run for the Sleman Pilkada. Not to mention Bobby Nasution who will fight in the North Sumatra gubernatorial election.

The strategy of giving power did not stop at the core family. Recently, the two relatives of the former mayor of Solo were also appointed to hold several positions in PT Pertamina and its subsidiary, PT Patra Logistik. They are Bagaskara Ikhlasulla Arif and Joko Priyambodo.

Bagaskara Ikhlasulla is Jokowi's nephew. He is the son of Titik Relawati, who is none other than Jokowi's youngest brother. Meanwhile, Joko Priyambodo is Anwar Usman's son-in-law, who is Jokowi's sister-in-law.

Bagaskara Ikhlasulla Arif has been appointed as the Manager of Non-government Relations of PT Pertamina (Persero) since March 2024. When the news of Joko and Bagaskara serving as strategic positions in Pertamina spread, both of them immediately became a conversation. However, they both locked the LinkedIn account so that it could no longer be accessed by the public.

For this commotion, Pertamina's Vice President for Corporate Communication Fadjar Djoko Santoso ensured the process of entering Bagaskara to PT Pertamina through a professional route in 2021.

"That's right. He first entered Pertamina in 2021 through a professional route," said Fadjar, quoting Kompas.com.

Meanwhile, Joko Priyambodo has served as Marketing and Operations Director of PT Patra Logistik, a subsidiary of PT Pertamina since May 20, 2024.

Pertamina Patra Niaga's Corporate Secretary, Irto Ginting, said that the appointment of Joko Priyambodo was in accordance with the company's provisions.

Irto also ensured that Joko had a fairly good track record since joining PT Pertamina in 2016. He has also held several positions, including Stakeholder Relations of PT Pertamina (Persero), Board of Director Office of PT Pertamina (Persero), Sales Branch Manager Yogyakarta, and Sales Area Manager Banten.

Then recently, the public was also shocked by the appointment of Grace Natalie as commissioner of MIND ID, replacing Jisman Parada Hutajulu who was honorably dismissed. The decision was decided at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS) on Monday, June 10, 2024. Previously, this former journalist was also appointed as President Jokowi's special staff.

The GMS also approved the appointment of Fuad Bawazier as the main commissioner and Pamitra Wineka as an independent commissioner. Grace Natalie is PSI's Deputy Board of Trustees, while Fuad Bawazier is a Gerindra Party politician.

According to political observer from Indonesia Political Opinion Dedi Kurnia Syah, this situation occurred in exchange for winning services in the presidential election. Dedi also predicted that the practice of this service return would be continued by the elected president Prabowo Subianto.

"This situation has continued Jokowi's reputation since 2014, where the opportunity for power is given as a reward for winning services in the presidential election, and if he reads the current conditions, Prabowo will replicate Jokowi's decision," said Dedi to VOI.

Dedi regretted the current phenomenon. According to him, the practice of distributing Jokowi-style power has actually plunged Indonesia into a zone of severe collusion and nepotism.

"On the one hand, this is a bad condition for our country, where power is divided, such as only belonging to the big family of Jokowi and his circle, this is concerning and of course it will have an impact on the country's economic condition," he explained.

"We have had difficulties getting out of the corruption zone, plus entering the collusion zone and very severe nepotism," added Dedi.

Recently, the public's attention is the figure of Felicita Tallulembang who occupies the position of commissioner of Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). The name of this Gerindra Party politician suddenly became the center of attention after Muhammadiyah announced the withdrawal of funds which reportedly reached Rp. 13 trillion from BSI.

According to the news circulating, the appointment of Felicity Tallulembang as commissioner based on the GMS in mid-May became one of the triggers for Muhammadiyah to leave BSI.

Syariah Business expert and economist at the University of Indonesia, Yusuf Wibisono, did not deny the possibility of withdrawing funds by Muhammadiyah related to the appointment of Felicity Tallulembang as commissioner, even though previously they had proposed the name Abdul Mu'ti.

According to Yusuf, Felicitas does not have a record track in the banking world, especially Islamic banks. This is what makes the public suspect that the appointment of a woman from Toraja is full of political content.

"In the future, SOEs must be managed more professionally, especially in the board of directors and commissioners so that they fully reflect business needs, the needs of Islamic banking efforts. They are no longer infiltrated or boarded by short-term political interests," said Yusuf.