TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri urged her party members and society as a whole to help elect Puti Guntur Soekarno into office at the East Java Gubernatorial Election. Puti is the granddaughter of Indonesian first president Soekarno.

“I told my father, asked for his acceptance, put forward one of your grandchildren, Puti Guntur. I asked for the people of East Java to respect Soekarno (Bung Karno) by voting for his granddaughter,” said Megawati in an event at Bung Karno’s cemetary at Blitar City, East Java on Wednesday, June 20.

Puti Guntur Soekarno is a candidate for deputy governor who is paired with Saifullah as the candidate for the East Java governor. PDIP initially supported Saifullah Yusuf to be paired with Banyuwangi Regent Abdullah Azwar Anas, however Anas backed out of the candidacy and was replaced by Puti.

The reason Megawati paired the candidates is to combine a nationalist candidate with another candidate with a more religious background, which is not a new strategy for the Party considering that Bung Karno had maintained a good relation with Nahdalatul Ulama’s Kyai or Islamic teachers.

Megawati Soekarnoputri also argued that her father had always been an Islamic student after all, often known as Santri, since Bung Karno was placed under the household of HOS Cokroaminoto, who is an Ulema, and studied with KH Ahmad Dahlan, KH Hasyim Asy’ari, and many more Islamic Ulemas.

ANTARA