Jokowi Backs Son Kaesang Pangarep to Lead PSI

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko Widodo or Jokowi said his youngest son Kaesang Pangarep had asked for his blessing to become the chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI).

“I support him,” he said after opening the National Jamboree of Dai Madani Parmusi Village in Cianjur on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.

Kaesang was declared as the PSI chairman at the party’s national meeting at the Djakarta Theater on Monday, September 25, 2023, after joining the party on Saturday, September 23, 2023.

In his speech as the new party’s chairman, the 24-year-old man said Jokowi was one of his inspirations for joining politics. He saw the President as a figure who never tires of carrying out the people's mandate.

“I want my generation to be more involved in public affairs,” Kaesang said.

Jokowi, in his press statement in Cianjur on Tuesday, said that Kaesang who is already married must be responsible and independent. “What’s been decided must have been through calculations of the good and the bad. The risks must have been considered,” he said.

Meanwhile, the pollster Lingkaran Survey Indonesia (LSI) founder Denny JA observed that PSI hoped for Jokowi's effect for tapping Kaesang, who is the younger brother of Solo Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as its general chairman. 

Jokowi’s effect is the term used to describe the influence of Jokowi’s popularity on politics and economy. Reports suggest that Jokowi is a booster for a political party.

“Kaesang has been a PSI cadre for three days. He has never held a public position or led a top political party position. So why did the PSI elect him as general chairman? This one sentence is the only answer: they are hoping for Jokowi's effect,” Denny JA said in his statement in Jakarta, on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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