PDIP Check And Balance On Jokowi's Political Dynasty

PDIP Bappilu Chairperson Bambang 'Pacul' Wuriyanto and PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristyanto (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOi)

JAKARTA - Two members of President Joko Widodo's family will advance in the 2020 Pilkada. Jokowi's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka will register for the Solo Pilwalkot, as well as Jokowi's son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, who will advance in the Medan Pilwakot.

However, the advancement of the two members of Jokowi's family actually caused polemic. This is because the former governor of DKI Jakarta is considered to have built a political dynasty.

Responding to the polemic, Chairman of the PDI-P Election Development Planning Board Bambang 'Pacul' Wuriyanto emphasized that neither a political dynasty nor power is being built by Jokowi. According to him, Gibran and Bobby only benefited from having a close relationship with President Jokowi. Mainly for Gibran, who is Jokowi's eldest son.

"That dynasty or not, our dynasty in the East has a distance from power. That's normal. That Mas Gibran benefits because the president's son is natural," Bambang told reporters at the PDIP DPP Office, Jalan Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, December 11.

PDI Perjuangan believes that Gibran certainly has competence, even though it will be performance and the people who judge his abilities when he is given the position of Mayor of Solo.

"Legality may be obtained but the next competency must be displayed, if it is not laughed at. The Republic will laugh at it," he said.

Bambang then compared Gibran's condition with Puan Maharani who was the daughter of Megawati Soekarnoputri.

PDIP Bappilu Chairperson Bambang 'Pacul' Wuriyanto and PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristyanto (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOi)

According to him, when Puan wanted to enter politics, the Chairman of the DPR RI often took to the field. In addition, while sitting in his position as Coordinating Minister for Human and Cultural Empowerment (Menko PMK) he was able to show his abilities.

"If you can't afford it, you will laugh at it, the public has a measure," he said.

Although he denied the issue of dynastic politics, Bambang said there had been no official party decision to carry both of them. According to him, PDIP is still considering a number of other things before making a decision.

On that occasion, Bambang also said that Gibran would register to advance in the Solo Pilwalkot at the PDI Perjuangan DPD on Thursday, December 12.

"I make sure tomorrow in Central Java the registration at the DPD," he explained, adding that Bobby had already carried out the registration process at the North Sumatra DPD and was already in the selection process.

Regarding dynastic politics, political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Dini Suryani views that this condition is actually not good in a democratic political system.

Although not constitutionally prohibited, dynastic politics runs the risk of weakening the check and balance function. When the head of state or regional head has family ties with members of the DPR or DPRD, for example.

"The absence of checks and balances will allow irregularities or abuse of authority to occur. In Gibran's context, perhaps the problem of not running a relative check and balance can be avoided because he and his father are not at the same level of government, like dynastic politics in other regions (regents and DPRD from one family), "said Dini by telephone.

Apart from the absence of checks and balances, dynastic politics has the potential to create conflicts of interest. However, until now there are no regulations that prohibit this. This is because the article which obstructed dynastic politics was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

Dini assessed that to prevent dynastic politics, Gibran could wait until his father completed his tenure as the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia in 2024. "It is better for Gibran to wait until Pak Jokowi finishes his duties as president and then advances in a political contest," he concluded.