Expert: Jokowi's Discourse For Three Periods Carried Out By The General Chairperson Of A Party Whose Electability Is Still Zero Comma

President Jokowi. (Antara/Secretpres Press Bureau/Rusman)

JAKARTA - IndoStaregic Executive Director Ahmad Khoirul Umam assesses that the discourse of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) continuing his term of office has been widely voiced by party leaders whose electability is only measured at zero point (0).

"We check that the ones who are a bit aggressive in doing that are the general chairmen of the party who actually have a bear electability, levels of one comma (1,). This is the person, not the party institution," said Umam during a virtual discussion on the Total Politics YouTube channel, Tuesday 15 March.

Umam said the general chairman of the party who often pushed the Jokowi discourse for the three periods also carried out a different mission. The general leaders voiced the postponement of the 2024 general election, but also secured the move by continuing to consolidate their candidacy in the upcoming presidential election.

Umam cannot deny that Jokowi's discourse for three periods on average comes from the strength of political parties. However, the power is not singular because there are still other strong elements that reject the idea.

He said, during the three-term Jokowi discourse, there was a split of interest between parties who wanted a postponement of the 2024 election and groups that brought party officials to the fore in the 2024 presidential election contestation.

"There is a split of interest between groups that encourage postponement of elections and elements that do have the potential for adequate electoral incentives," he added.

However, up to now, Jokowi's idea of three periods that many party figures have thrown out to the public to religious organizations has only been limited to testing the water. Umam considers that the discourse is still dynamic to provoke public reaction.

"They have a political sense to anticipate if this political operation doesn't work. What does it mean, this is a testing the water strategy," said Umam.

The gong to extend President Jokowi's term of office to three terms is known to have been played by Deputy Chairman of the DPR Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar or Cak Imin. The PKB general chairman reasoned that election contestation could have a negative impact on economic improvement.

He found this after receiving input from MSME players and analysts regarding the economic prospects this year.

"From my visit to the region and seeing the positive prospects going forward, this good momentum in the future should not be ignored. Therefore, I see that in 2024 the elections that we plan to hold in February, do not let the good economic prospects it was disrupted because of the election," said Cak Imin at the DPR Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 23.

In a nutshell, Cak Imin's idea was approved by two other general chairmen of political parties. It was the General Chair of the Golkar Party, Airlangga Hartarto and the General Chair of PAN, Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas), who agreed that the 2024 election discourse was postponed.

Airlangga expressed his support for the extension of President Jokowi's term of office after making a working visit (kunker) to Siak, Pekanbaru, Thursday, February 24. He said, absorbing the aspirations of farmers in Siak so that he agreed to Jokowi's three-term discourse.

After the visit, Airlangga discussed the matter with top Golkar Party officials in a closed meeting.

"We will discuss these aspirations with the leaders of other political parties, and for us, for the Golkar party the aspirations of the people are the aspirations of the party, because we will continue to accept the aspirations of the people and of course they will be channeled," said Airlangga in a written statement.

Zulhas voiced the extension of the power of the head of state. He argued that the COVID-19 pandemic, the unstable economy, Russia's war with Ukraine, and many government programs were still being postponed.

"PAN agrees that the election should be considered postponed," said Zulhas, Friday, February 25.