SBY: Minister Approached Demokrat to Form New Coalition

Tokyo, Japan - On the 1st of September 2023, Head of the High Assembly of the Democrat Party (Partai Demokrat) and former president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) announced to the press that a minister within the cabinet of President Joko Widodo, and apparently with the approval of the President, approached Demokrat in order to form a new coalition after Demokrat left the Coalition of Change for Unity due to Chairman Agus Yudhoyono not being selected as Anies’ Vice President.

Reportedly, this new coalition would involve 2 other parties besides the Demokrat - with the other parties being the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Should this be true, this development would mean that the PPP would end its support for Ganjar as their presidential candidate, while the PKS would end its support for Anies Baswedan as their presidential candidate.

This would come after the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Democratic Party (NasDem) confirmed its collaboration of pairing up candidate Anies Baswedan with PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, and despite the PKS just a day before stating its commitment to keep supporting Anies Baswedan.

“The (minister) involved stated that the initiative that has been mentioned is with the knowledge of Pak Lurah (Colloquial term to refer to President Joko Widodo), these are the words of a minister, not my words.” Said Mr. Yudhoyono in an address to members of Demokrat.

Although SBY did not mention who the minister exactly was, only the PPP currently has seats in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, having two ministers including Suharso Monoarfa and Sandiaga Uno.

Out of these two, the most well known and perhaps the most electable minister is Sandiaga Uno, serving as the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy and the vice presidential pick for Prabowo Subianto during his presidential run in 2019, which ultimately resulted in defeat and President Joko Widodo’s re-election.

In the past, Sandiaga has been touted as a possible vice presidential pick for Ganjar Pranowo, the presidential candidate put forward by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and up to 1st September officially put forward by the PPP as well.

However, it cannot be confirmed at this time that this would be the strategy of the new coalition.

Should AHY seek to become a vice presidential nominee, a politician from the PPP would most likely be tapped as the presidential candidate for the new coalition of Demokrat, PPP, and PKS. This would mean that a fourth presidential ticket would be formed in addition to Ganjar Pranowo, Prabowo Subianto, and Anies Baswedan.

Should this coalition form and a ticket is announced, it would force both Ganjar Pranowo and Prabowo Subianto’s camp to speed up the process of confirming a vice presidential candidate for their respective tickets, as momentum would be important in the effort of keeping their polling numbers on top.

With all that being said, it is also not out of the question for even a minister outside the three parties mentioned to be the one suggesting the coalition - as this week has more than anything proven to us that the politics that goes into the 2024 election can be very dynamic.