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Idul Fitri proves Megawati still very powerful
Jakarta Post - July 22, 2015
The President was in Aceh and in Central Java during Idul Fitri. His close aides refused to comment on his meeting with the country's fifth president. Jokowi has now returned to Jakarta and on Wednesday he plans to meet with his Cabinet ministers and senior government officials at the Presidential Office. "The meeting is restricted to government officials only," Teten Masduki, a staff member of the President, said on Tuesday.
Despite Jokowi's low-key visit, Megawati has once again proved that she is a center of power, attracting many of the country's leaders. She seemed to play down the event, having her house closed to the public with a sign on the front gate announcing "No open house". The announcement, however, did not prevent various high-ranking officials as well as politicians, including Vice President Jusuf Kalla, visiting her Jl. Teukur Umar residence in Central Jakarta.
Her guests included politicians from the opposition Red-and-White Coalition such as Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party and Aburizal Bakrie of the Golkar Party. She also received leading figures from pro-government political parties such as the NasDem Party's Surya Paloh, Golkar's Agung Laksono and the United Development Party's (PPP) Muhammad "Romy" Romahurmuziy.
Cabinet ministers also seen among the crowd included: Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi; Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Minister and National Awakening Party (PKB) politician Marwan Jafar; Trade Minister Rahmat Gobel; Industry Minister and Hanura Party politician Saleh Husin; as well as PDI-P ministers, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo and Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly.
"It is an absolute fact that Ibu Megawati is still publicly recognized," PDI-P deputy secretary-general Ahmad Basarah said. "We hope that she will be the glue that unites the country."
Basarah later emphasized that the presence of leading figures at Megawati's residence was due to her cultural power rather than her political influence.
Amid rumors about an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, which is said to be planned for sometime after Idul Fitri, the coming of the flock to Megawati seemed to also reflect her significant authority in determining the make-up of the Cabinet, being as she is the chief of the party that led the coalition that endorsed Jokowi and Kalla.
Megawati, however, denied that she was instrumental in the Cabinet formation and reshuffle. "I have nothing to do with [the reshuffle]," Megawati responded when journalists asked her on Wednesday on the sidelines of a PDI-P gathering.
The daughter of the country's first president Sukarno, however, acknowledged that Jokowi had asked her opinion on why the economy was moving so slowly under his government.
Megawati openly disclosed the results of her recent meeting with the President. She pointed her finger at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as one of the country's main problems because government officials were too scared of the antigraft body. Another problem, she said, was the corrupt mentality of the bureaucracy.
"They are scared to make a mistake, so they don't want to work. They are afraid that if they do [anything very noticeable], they will be targeted by the KPK, so they keep quiet, because they don't know what is right and what is wrong," Megawati said when opening the party gathering in Depok, West Java.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/07/22/idul-fitri-proves-megawati-still-very-powerful.html.
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