Diving Jokowi's Winged Statement Comfortable To Be Under A Banyan Tree

President Joko Widodo delivered a speech at the closing of the Golkar Party XI National Conference (Munas) at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday (21/8/2024). (ANTARA/Muhammad Adimaja/sgd/foc/pri)

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is said to have given a series of codes before officially joining the Golkar Party. A political observer from Al Azhar University Indonesia, Andriadi Achmad, Jokowi could have anchored in the Golkar party after serving as president, but it is not impossible to cross into other parties.

Jokowi and Golkar looked intimate and were shown through a yellow shirt, the color of the party bearing the banyan tree symbol, which was worn by the former governor of Jakarta while attending the closing of the 11th Golkar National Conference (Munas) at the Jakarta Convention Center, Wednesday (21/8/2024).

"If the banyan tree is really cool and cool. Being near a banyan tree, near a banyan tree makes us more shady," said Jokowi.

Bahlil Lahadalia, who served as chairman of Golkar after being elected by acclamation, also occasionally teased Jokowi as Golkar's new cadre. He also admitted that he saw Jokowi in a yellow shirt.

Jokowi's statement about the banyan tree sparked speculation from the public. Muncul who considers this a strong signal that the president will be anchored in the banyan party at the end of his term as the number one person in Indonesia in October.

Until this moment, Jokowi's facto is still a PDI-P cadre, although some time ago PDIP's Chief of Honor, Komarudin Watabun, said that the seventh president of the Republic of Indonesia was no longer part of the party.

PDIP's relationship with Jokowi has indeed changed 180 degrees during the 2024 election. Jokowi, who was promoted by a red party in two editions of the presidential election, is said to have defected by providing support to Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka during the 2024 presidential election, while PDIP carries Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.

Since then many people think that Jokowi and PDIP's honeymoon has been completed. But Jokowi certainly needs a new political vehicle after he completes his duties in two months. Golkar is said to have entered as the target of the former Governor of Jakarta and the Mayor of Solo.

When Airlangga Hartarto suddenly announced his resignation as Ketum Golkar through a video circulating on August 12, Jokowi's name was linked. He was accused of being an 'external factor' which prompted Airlangga to lay down his position. There was even a joke that the carpenter had succeeded in cutting down a strong banyan tree.

Rumors of Jokowi's closeness to Golkar are further strengthened by his presence during the National Conference some time ago. The man from Solo came with a series of codes regarding his readiness to be anchored in the banyan party. Starting from the yellow shirt worn, to the expression of a cool and cool banyan tree.

Andriadi Achmad, Executive Director of the Nusantara Institute PolCom SRC (Political Communication Studies and Research Center), said that Jokowi often uses symbols and throws phrases that smell of satire and caress in his speeches to answer a conjecture or even reality. One of them is when Munas Golkar is wearing a yellow batik shirt which is a symbol of the Golkar party and the expression under a cool and cool banyan tree.

On the other hand, there was no official statement that Jokowi was fired or resigned from PDIP cadres even though he implied that.

"Therefore, Jokowi is free to step into any political party after the presidential task is completed in October 2024. This means that there is a possibility of being anchored to Golkar or any party," said Andriadi when contacted by VOI.

Jokowi's tendency to be anchored in Golkar is greater than that of other parties. First, after getting out of the presidency, Jokowi still has ambitions to have an influence. PSI was said to be his political vehicle, especially after Kaesang Pangarep was appointed as chairman even though he had only been a member for two days.

But PSI is not a big party like Golkar and does not have a representative in parliament, making it difficult to have an influence.

Another reason that made Jokowi rumored to be targeting Golkar was because this included one of the influential parties in parliament and quite often changed leaders in the midst of internal conflicts. Andriadi Achmad explained that, regardless of the authorities' intervention, the regeneration of the Golkar Party often had political fun, including the latter.

He explained how after the 2004 convention and presidential elections and the 2005 National Conference of the Golkar Party, senior cadre Wiranto left and founded the Hanura Party (2006), while Prabowo Subianto founded Gerindra (2008).

Then after the 2009 National Conference, senior cadres and former chairman of the Golkar Party Board of Trustees Surya Paloh came out and founded Nasdem after losing to Aburizal Bakrie in the contestation of the Golkar Chairman.

Likewise the 2015 National Conference, Golkar's leadership dualism between Aburizal Bakrie and Agung Laksono. Not long after, Airlangga Hartarto was appointed as Ketum in 2017. Last year, Airlangga's seat was also shaken to go down, even though it was saved. But at the end of 2024, citing the conduciveness and solidity of the Golkar Party, Airlangga resigned.

According to Andriadi, parties that do not have a Golkar-like solidarity leadership have weaknesses that are prone to internal political riots.

"After the New Order, the leadership of Solidarity Maker like Suharto no longer exists within the Golkar party, so it is vulnerable to breaking up and not solid," he said.

He added that several political parties currently still have Solidarity Makers such as PDIP (Megawati Soekarnoputri), Nasdem (Surya Paloh), Gerindra (Prabowo Subianto), and Perindo (Hary Tanoesoedibjo).