TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former President Joko Widodo has responded to claims made by the Golkar Party's central board that he has become an honorary member of the party. Jokowi said he had been in talks with Golkar officials about the membership status, but the ex-mayor of Solo said he had not yet decided to become a party member of the Functional Group Party, or Golkar Party.
"There has been communication, but I have yet to decide,” Jokowi said after receiving one of West Java's deputy gubernatorial candidates, Erwan Setiawan, and the football club Persib Bandung manager, Umuh Muchtar, at his home in Solo, Central Java, on Monday, December 9.
Earlier, Golkar Secretary for Organization, Derek Loupatty, said that Jokowi and his son, Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, had become honorary members of the party even though neither of them has a membership card (KTA).
Derek said there are two types of membership in the Golkar Party: regular members and honorary members.
The party, he explained, grants honorary membership status to respected national leaders, such as presidents, vice presidents, and former presidents. "People who are considered to have contributed to the country. As they are statesmen, there is no need for KTA," Derek said at the Golkar Party DPP office in Kemanggisan, West Jakarta, on Thursday, December 5.
Meanwhile, Jokowi said he had no plans to join any particular political party now that he was no longer a PDIP cadre. "Not yet. I am still an independent," the 7th President of Indonesia said.
Jokowi was reluctant to comment on his PDIP membership card, which he still holds.
Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan, the chairperson of Jokowi Mania—a Jokowi supporters' group—hopes that Jokowi will remain independent now that he is no longer a PDIP cadre. "Pak Jokowi is a statesman, not a politician. My wish is that he remains the person he is, a father to all his children," Immanuel said last Thursday.
He said Jokowi Mania would always support Jokowi's decisions on whether he would become a member of a political party. "Whether he decides to join a political party or not, it is entirely his political right," he said.
Anastasya Lavenia Y contributed to the writing of this article
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