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As PDI-P bears down, trusted trio bands around Jokowi
Jakarta Globe - February 2, 2015
That, at least, is the latest talk swirling around the increasingly hostile attitude being taken toward Joko by Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), following the president's decision last month to put the nomination of Budi Gunawan, Megawati's security aide during her presidency, on hold after he was charged with graft by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Joko's surprise nomination of Budi, given the corruption allegations that have long surrounded the police general, has been attributed by many observers as a concession to Megawati, without whose blessing Joko would never have been nominated to stand in last year's presidential election.
The PDI-P has since pushed for Joko to inaugurate Budi after the House of Representatives formally approved of the nomination.
But deflecting some of the PDI-P's pressure directed at Joko is a group of senior cabinet officials, two of whom were long thought to be Megawati loyalists, insiders have revealed.
Among this group dubbed the "Trio Macan," or "Tiger Trio," after a now-shuttered Twitter account famous for all kinds of outrageous accusations about corruption and other alleged wrongdoings by high-level officials, is Andi Widjajanto, the cabinet secretary.
A source at the PDI-P tells the Jakarta Globe that Andi has been shielding Joko from senior PDI-P members' lobbying efforts to hasten Budi's inauguration. Senior PDI-P politician Effendi Simbolon went further, branding Andi a "traitor" last week and accusing him of "monopolizing" Joko.
Effendi suggested Andi, a former political science lecturer at the University of Indonesia, of becoming one of the most dominant voices in Joko's inner circle, calling him "a new kid who is trying to run this country."
The "traitor" label is an apparent allusion to the fact that Andi, whose late father, Theo Syafei, was a PDI-P stalwart, has long been thought of as close to Megawati. When his place in Joko's cabinet was announced, it was denounced by critics as one of the many political appointments that the new president seemed obliged to make.
Another official with even closer ties to Megawati but who insiders now say is helping put distance between Joko and the PDI-P is Rini Soemarno, the minister for state-owned enterprises, who previously served as minister of industry and trade under Megawati from 2001 to 2004.
The third purported member of the trio is Luhut Panjaitan, a former Golkar Party member who switched allegiances to Joko's camp for last year's election and now serves as the president's chief of staff.
These three are part of Joko's so-called kitchen cabinet, his closest ring of advisers, but critics say they are also responsible for leading Joko on a "neoliberal" path that is out of keeping with the PDI-P's long-espoused populist stance.
"The Trio Macan's political maneuvers revolve around 'economic liberalism,' with the United States at the center of the orbit," read an anonymously penned article in Kompasiana, the widely read citizen journalism platform of Kompas, the country's biggest newspaper.
"This group has cleverly managed to destroy the PDI-P's fundamental power based on nationalist-Sukarno-ist directives, and has artfully influenced the public perception with its portrait of the PDI-P as 'a party that must be smeared in the eyes of the public.'"
Whether there is any truth to this allegation is highly debatable, says Hamdi Muluk, a professor in political psychology at the University of Indonesia.
"We have to be aware of the existence of spin doctors, who make up stories or spin issues to influence and provoke people, or to delegitimize others," he says of the Kompasiana writer. "They are not some random people who have nothing better to do. They purposefully spread lies to muddy things up, to cause disorder."
He notes that a raft of similar allegations against other figures close to Joko emerged during campaigning for last year's election, and was part of the price for having an unfettered online media where anyone could make claims behind the cloak of anonymity.
But the notion that there is a rift, and a growing one, between Joko and the PDI-P is clear, says political observer Ray Rangkuti of the Indonesian Civil Circle (Lima). "The detachment is psychological, and in terms of communications," he says.
"Joko and Mega must talk directly, they must hold a private meeting. There's a growing impression now that the PDI-P doesn't support corruption eradication" – because of its support for Budi the graft suspect – "therefore Joko needs to have a heart-to-heart talk with Mega. I believe if both of them meet and talk in the a same language, they will find something in common."
Ray added that only through direct communications could Joko revoke Budi's nomination for police chief without drawing the ire of the PDI-P elite.
The standoff between the KPK and the police over Budi being named a suspect has had dire consequences for the antigraft commission, whose four commissioners, including chairman Abraham Samad, have now all been reported to the police in a range of cold cases widely perceived as a reprisal. In most of those cases, those reporting the alleged crimes are PDI-P officials or people affiliated with the party.
Joko has brought together a group of nine law enforcement experts to advise him independently on how to proceed with ending the standoff, which he repeatedly says is as much about saving the police force as it is about protecting the KPK.
Two of those advisers, law professors Hikmahanto Juwana from the University of Indonesia and Syafi'i Maarif of Yogyakarta State University, spoke at a forum in Yogyakarta on Sunday that declared the impasse a "national disaster" requiring an urgent response.
"This tragedy surrounding the conflict between the KPK and the National Police has actually become a national disaster," said Dwikorita Karnawati, the rector of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, which hosted the forum. "Therefore we academics won't stay silent and will keep voicing the nation's aspirations."
Mochtar Masoed, a professor of international relations at Gadjah Mada, read out a seven-point declaration drafted at the forum, including a call for the president to make "immediate and concrete moves" to end the criminalization of the antigraft officials – one of the advisory team's main recommendations issued to Joko last week.
The declaration also called for Joko's political backers to stop pressuring him into making concessions that served only their interests.
"We call on the entire nation to support the noble promises that the president has made by not interfering with the national leadership, and by giving the president the freedom to make independent decisions and actions in the interests of the nation and the Indonesian people," Mochtar said.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/pdi-p-bears-trusted-trio-bands-around-jokowi/.
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