One thing that earned President Joko Widodo his “man of the people” reputation was that he is the first Indonesian president to not come from a political dynasty in contemporary Indonesian politics. But it’s starting to look like former furniture salesman is building up his own family’s political future after all.
Jokowi’s eldest child, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is following his father’s footsteps by joining the ruling PDI-P party, despite previously having shown little interest in politics or even being in the public eye, for that matter (though he does own a very popular martabak franchise).
Yesterday, Gibran registered himself as a cadre of PDI-P in order to be eligible to run for mayor of the Central Java city of Solo — the same office his father held before he became governor of Jakarta and eventually the president.
“God willing, I am already part of the big family that is PDI-P,” Gibran said yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
It should be noted that PDI-P had previously announced their support for two of its cadres, Achmad Purnomo and Teguh Prakosa, to run in next year’s election in Solo. But Gibran said he would be ready to run nonetheless should PDI-P call on him to do so.
Gibran said one of the factors behind his decision to enter politics was a recent survey measuring the popularity and electability of politicians and public figures potentially running for mayor of Solo. In the survey, Gibran actually beat Achmad in popularity but lagged behind in terms of electability.
Previously, Jokowi said that he has never pressured his children into entering politics.
“If, out of nowhere, they say, ‘Pak, I want to be a mayor,’ then who knows? Next week they would say, ‘Pak, I’m ready to be a mayor.’ If they say that, then I would say go ahead,” Jokowi said in an interview in July.
Earlier this month, Jokowi’s son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, also announced his interest in running for the mayor of Medan next year. Bobby, who, like Gibran, has no political experience, seems to be close to joining the NasDem party (which is part of the government coalition) and receive the party’s backing to run in Medan.
Nepotism is a charged leveled against many Indonesian politicians, and anti-corruption activists have warned that Jokowi risks becoming yet another if his children enter politics.
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