Will the PSI Enter Indonesia’s National Parliament After the 2024 Elections?

One recent opinion poll by SPIN (Survei dan Polling Indonesia) shows that the Indonesian Solidarity Party (Partai Solidaritas Indonesia, PSI) has increased its popularity. The survey showed that PSI gained 3.6 per cent of respondents’ support, seemingly surpassing the United Development Party (PPP), Perindo, and others. However, other surveys show that PSI commands just 0.9 to 2.5 per cent of support.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), but the PDI-P is chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri’s party, not Jokowi’s. The deteriorating relationship between Jokowi and Megawati worsened when the former implicitly backed a different presidential candidate (Prabowo Subianto) from PDI-P’s (Ganjar Pranowo), and Jokowi’s clear intent to build his own political dynasty might eventually force Jokowi to leave the PDI-P.

Jokowi requires a political party for his dynasty building. With his younger son Kaesang Pangarep as PSI’s chairperson and Jokowi’s influence, there is a slight possibility that PSI might gain enough votes in the 2024 general election (held on the same day as the presidential vote) to enter the national parliament (DPR).

PSI is a youth party established after the 2014 general election. It was then led by a few young Indonesians, including Grace Natalie, an ethnic Chinese Indonesian television announcer. From the beginning, PSI was known to be pro-Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (alias “Ahok”), Jakarta’s deputy governor from 2012 who took over as governor when then governor Jokowi became president in 2014. On its website, PSI’s stated aim is to strengthen national solidarity. It is concerned with people’s welfare, focusing on idealism and continuing the pressure for reform and democracy on an anti-corruption and anti-intolerance platform.

As PSI’s first chairperson was an ethnic Chinese Indonesian, many Chinese Indonesians mistook it for an ethnic Chinese party. In fact, PSI is a multi-ethnic party. Its most powerful founder was Jeffrie Geovanie (Chairman, Board of Supervisors or Dewan Pembina), a pribumi businessman who also serves as a fundraiser for PSI. Urban-educated youth support PSI, which contested in the 2019 general elections for the national and provincial parliaments. Many Indonesian conglomerates, including Djarum Group and Gajah Tunggal, have funded many PSI legislative candidates.

In 2019, PSI gained just 1.9 per cent of the national vote. While candidates Grace Natalie and Tsamara Amany, then chairperson of the Central Leadership Council, gained sufficient votes to qualify as members of the DPR, they failed to enter parliament. This was because as a party, PSI failed to secure the required minimum of the national vote nationwide, a threshold for securing DPR seats set at 4 per cent.

Despite this failure at the national level, some PSI members entered provincial parliaments (DPRD) in Jakarta and also in Surabaya, Semarang and Bandung. The PSI representatives in the provincial parliament, especially in the Jakarta parliament, have gained traction in the media. For instance, PSI representatives questioned then Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan for an allegedly inflated Jakarta budget and suggested Anies was negligent. They attempted to interpellate Anies for irregularity in hosting the Formula E Race. These attempts to blame Anies failed, partly due to a lack of support from other parties.

The PSI has long openly declared that it supports the Jokowi government and has regularly invited Jokowi to its celebrations. Jokowi trusted the leadership of the PSI even before Kaesang led it: he offered their leaders positions as junior state ministers in his 2019 cabinet. At least two – Surya Chandra, a human rights lawyer, and Raja Juli Anthony, former general chairman of PSI – were appointed. Interestingly, Surya was dismissed halfway through the term and later joined Anies’ campaign team for 2024. Sunny Tanuwidjaja, a PSI founder and general secretary of the PSI Governing Board, also joined Anies’ camp. Nevertheless, most senior PSI members stayed and stood by Jokowi.

Eager to have representatives in the national parliament, PSI’s leaders began to formulate new strategies for the 2024 elections with Jokowi’s help. Tempo magazine has revealed that PSI leadership sought the president’s backing as far back as 2020. The PSI has arguably abandoned its stated “idealism”. In response, many intellectuals began to criticise the PSI.

PSI initially supported Ganjar as he seemed to be Jokowi’s initial choice to be his successor. However, on 2 August 2023, Prabowo visited PSI headquarters and received a warm welcome, after which many speculated that PSI would shift their support. There was reportedly a split within the PSI and one leader, Guntur Romli, left the party in protest. (Editor’s note: By August/September 2023, the rift between Jokowi and the PDI-P was evident.)

Not surprisingly, PSI’s support for the 2024 presidential race would likely follow Jokowi’s direction.

On 23 September 2023, Kaesang Pangarep, 28, Jokowi’s youngest son, obtained a PSI cadre card. Two days later, Kaesang was declared the new PSI general chairman. On 23 October 2023, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, joined Prabowo as his vice-presidential running mate. The Prabowo-Gibran pairing, now supported by a PSI led by Kaesang, marked the high point of Jokowi’s manoeuvring for his political dynasty.

Not surprisingly, PSI’s support for the 2024 presidential race would likely follow Jokowi’s direction. The present PSI leadership have accepted Kaesang as their new leader. In doing so, it seems they have become more concerned with political positions than democratic values. Part of this is their belief that with Kaesang as chair, PSI would be able to gain at least 4 per cent of the national vote. Images of Jokowi and Kaesang have appeared in the election posters of PSI’s legislative candidates – the party clearly hopes this will suggest that the president supports these candidates. Jokowi recently met Kaesang with some PSI cadres in Bandung, expressing his optimism that PSI would be able to enter the DPR after the 2024 elections due to its “critical spirit”. However, given polls in mid-January showing PSI’s low electability ratings plus the backlash against Jokowi and Gibran after Gibran’s questionable behaviour towards his opponent Mahfud MD at the vice-presidential debate on 21 January, it is still questionable if PSI’s ambition can become a reality.

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