The Prabowo-Mega Political Cartel

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A coalition between the PDI-P and Prabowo Subianto is getting closer. It is rife with personal interests, and it ignores the aspirations of the people.

THE plan by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to join the government coalition of Prabowo Subianto is a nightmare for Indonesian politics. The hope that there would be an opposition to balance the government fades away because a new political cartel will arise. This coalition plan proves that the interests of political leaders are put before those of the people at large.

After dying down, reports of the plan for the PDI-P to join the coalition of political parties supporting Prabowo emerged again last week. Prabowo and PDI-P General Chair Megawati Sukarnoputri have met twice. A number of politicians from the PDI-P and the Gerindra Party, which Prabowo leads, have been intensively discussing this plan. Prabowo has an interest in including the PDI-P to strengthen the political position of his administration.

Gerindra has made an offer: a number of ministerial posts and no interference with positions currently held by Megawati, as well as other compensation. At present, Megawati is chair of the advisory council of two institutions: the National Research and Innovation Agency and the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency.

The PDI-P has also asked Prabowo to free himself from the influence of former president Joko Widodo. And it has requested that Indonesian National Police Chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo be replaced. There are concerns that the Police will be used to disrupt the sixth PDI-P Congress and prevent Megawati from being reelected chair. Initially planned for last month, the congress was postponed until August 2025.

Subsequently, the PDI-P added another condition: a lenient verdict for PDI-P Secretary-General Hasto Kristiyanto. Hasto is a suspect over bribes allegedly paid to Wahyu Setiawan, a former commissioner of the General Election Commission, and for allegedly obstructing the investigation. As well as Hasto, another PDI-P politician embroiled in the case is Harun Masiku, who is currently a fugitive. The Corruption Eradication Commission prosecutors have demanded a seven-year imprisonment sentence for Hasto.

If these “terms and conditions” can be accommodated, it is just a matter of time before the PDI-P joins the parties supporting Prabowo. After its candidate lost in the 2024 presidential election, the PDI-P said that it wanted to go into opposition. But after 10 years in power, it is restless being outside the government.

Another analysis said that without government support, the PDI-P will lose the opportunity to gather logistical support—an important factor in garnering votes in the 2029 elections. This political pragmatism has ended the public’s hopes of a government that sides with the people.

The entry of the PDI-P into the government coalition will consolidate all power in the hands of Prabowo. In the grip of a cartel, party ideology will fade away, leaving more opportunity for transgressions. As in the past, political parties will collude to exploit the nation’s various natural resources.

Megawati would do well to remember that when the PDI-P and Joko Widodo brought Prabowo and Gerindra into its coalition, it killed off the opposition and resulted in damage to political life. The narrative from this grand coalition to building national unity only strengthened the symptoms of Jokowi’s authoritarianism.

With absolute power without control, Jokowi was free to pass policies that ignored the people’s interests. Together with the House of Representatives, he weakened the Corruption Eradication Commission and forced through the Job Creation Law without heeding the voice of the people. Jokowi also went ahead with flagship projects for the sake of his personal ambition, which created huge economic problems that the people had to bear the consequences of.

The people should not be trapped in narrow-minded romanticism: the idea that the entry of the PDI-P into Prabowo’s coalition will remove Jokowi and his family from the political stage. Anger towards Jokowi—for his legal acrobatics that made Gibran Rakabuming Raka Prabowo’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election—should not lead to the people accepting the establishment of a Prabowo-Megawati political cartel.

And there is no guarantee that Jokowi’s influence over the Prabowo government will decline after the PDI-P joins. Rather than forcing one person to get out of the couch to make room for another friend, he prefers to increase the size of the couch to accommodate everybody.

So, politics has become nothing more than a game for the elite. Parties, in the understanding of ideologies and concepts, have long been forgotten. And the public has ended up in the gutter.

Read the Complete Story in Tempo English Magazine

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