Indonesia’s Widodo and son Gibran no longer ruling party members for supporting Prabowo in election: official

Komarudin Watubun, who heads the ethical division of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told Reuters on Tuesday that Widodo and Gibran were not expelled but had ceased to be members after they chose not to endorse the party’s presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo.

“They decided to be on the opposite side,” Komaruddin said. “Regardless of what happened, [Widodo] reached the highest career level in the party, he has become president. We want to preserve his dignity,” he said.

Relations between Widodo and PDI-P leaders became strained during the election season, with some officials suggesting he had chosen to cement his legacy over the interests of the party by supporting Gibran’s political ambitions.

The announcement that Widodo is no longer a PDI-P member is not surprising, considering their strained relationship but the situation remains unclear until a more senior member of the party speaks out on the matter, according to analysts.

“I think that we should wait and see what happens … I would not be surprised if they decide to kick [Widodo] out, but at the same time, we must remember that he is still the president and holds power,” Yohanes Sulaiman, a political analyst at the University of Achmad Yani in West Java, told This Week in Asia.

“I assume the PDI-P would still want the perks that come with being the political party of the president, even if there are only a few more months left in his leadership,” he said, pointing to the prominent roles held by PDI-P cadres in Widodo’s cabinet.

Similarly, Wasisto Raharjo Jati, a political analyst with the Jakarta-based National Research and Innovation Agency, said that if there was no official or direct statement from Megawati, “it is still debatable whether