JAKARTA: Politicians from key factions have welcomed a rare joint public appearance of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka and rival leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, with analysts describing it as a “symbolic” gesture of reconciliation.
The national event in Jakarta on Monday (Jun 2) marked the first time the trio was seen together after Prabowo was inaugurated last October, although he and Megawati had a closed-door meeting in April.
It was also the first time Megawati – chairwoman of the country’s largest political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) – was sighted in public with Gibran after he and his father, former President Joko Widodo, were officially expelled from the PDI-P last December.
They were at a ceremony to commemorate the birth of Indonesia’s founding ideology, Pancasila, at the Pancasila Building in Central Jakarta.
Prabowo served as the inspector of the ceremony while Megawati is the head of the steering committee at the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency. She was among the dignitaries seated in the front row along with former vice-presidents Try Sutrisno and Jusuf Kalla.
Photos circulating of the event show Prabowo accompanying Megawati as they entered the building, with Gibran following behind.
Megawati’s PDI-P is the single largest party in parliament with nearly one-fifth of seats, but is still dwarfed by the Advance Indonesia Coalition, a super-coalition of parties aligned with Prabowo’s Gerindra party. PDI-P is the only major party that has not joined the Advance Indonesia Coalition, also known as KIM Plus.
Tensions have run high ever since Widodo did not back PDI-P’s presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo in the February 2024 presidential election. Instead, Widodo was widely said by observers to have tacitly supported Prabowo, whose running mate was his oldest child Gibran.
