PDIP: Unhealthy, Megawati Obstructed To Attend The Prabowo-Gibran Inauguration

PDI-P General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the PDI-P DPP (PDIP) Ahmad Basarah conveyed that the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia and PDIP General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri were unable to attend the Inauguration of the Elected Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidate Pairs as a Result of the 2024 General Election.

He explained the reason Megawati was unable to attend the presidential inauguration event today was due to unfavorable health conditions.

"The second, Mrs. Mega asked me to apologize to Prabowo because today Mrs. Mega was very forced not to attend her inauguration as President of the Republic of Indonesia because it was indeed a health condition," Basarah said, at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Sunday, October 20.

He also emphasized that Megawati's absence from today's inauguration ceremony did not mean that Prabowo was appointed as the 8th President of the Republic of Indonesia.

"Mr. Mega's absence from the inauguration of Mr. Prabowo Subianto was not due to rejecting Pak Prabowo's inauguration himself," he said.

He explained that Megawati's condition declined after her visit from Russia and Uzbekistan in the context of exploring the journey of the First President of the Republic of Indonesia Soekarno or Bung Karno in September.

Because, he said, during a pilgrimage to the grave of Imam Besar Al Bukhari in Khartang Village, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, his condition was dusty because restoration was being carried out.

"In a dusty atmosphere, the mother made a direct pilgrimage without wearing a mask so that her cough until now, and the flu has not yet healed," he said.

He then said, "Just yesterday when I accompanied him there was an open doctoral trial of PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto, he wore a mask and coughed several times at the event."

For this reason, he said Megawati did not want her condition to interfere with the progress of the inauguration of the elected president and vice president.

"Mrs. Mega does not want the procession of the presidential inauguration to take place so solemnly for the Indonesian people if she is present in the room and then coughs and flu and so on," he said.

He said that Megawati's message had been conveyed as a message to Prabowo through his meeting with the Chairman of the MPR RI who is also the Secretary General (Sekjen) Ahmad Muzani on Thursday, October 17, afternoon.

"We met about 45 minutes, and I conveyed eight points of Mrs. Megawati's message to Prabowo directly to Muzani who was accompanied by Budi Djiwandono at that time," he said.

Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka will take the oath of office as President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia for the 2024-2029 term of service at the MPR RI Plenary Session at the Nusantara Building, parliament complex, Jakarta, Sunday.

A total of 732 members of the MPR RI will witness the procession of taking the oath of office. The MPR RI Plenary Session was also attended by national figures, leaders of political parties, and representatives of friendly countries.