Jokowi Attends PSI Meeting in Bogor With Party Leader Kaesang

Party gathering at Sentul

Ahmad Ali, daily chair of the Indonesian Solidarity Party's central board, and other officials greeted the pair in the lobby of the Sentul International Convention Center. Jokowi wore a white hat and a white shirt bearing the PSI logo on the right side of his chest. Kaesang also wore a white shirt, with a red-headed elephant emblem on his hat.

Party members stopped them for selfies as they headed into the meeting room. After the greetings, proceedings turned to the inauguration of PSI's Bogor Regency board.

Before Jokowi and Kaesang arrived, Ahmad Ali had addressed members about youth participation in politics. He urged young Indonesians to help improve political practices rather than disengage, arguing that their involvement was needed to keep certain groups from dominating politics.

"Politics does not belong to the rich, nor to giants or parties; politics is the hope of all Indonesians," Ahmad Ali said. He cited disappointment with political practices as one reason young people hesitate to get involved, and encouraged them to exercise their political rights through parties or elections rather than limit themselves to criticism.

Jokowi's membership and campaign role

The Bogor appearance followed Jokowi's public confirmation of his PSI membership the previous month. According to Channel News Asia and The Jakarta Globe, he formally joined on October 14, 2025, but ended months of speculation about his affiliation by showing his membership card at a regional coordination meeting in Bandung, West Java, on September 26, 2026.

PSI had already named him a political patron and a leading campaign figure at its national working meeting in Makassar in January 2026, The Jakarta Globe reported. He subsequently pledged to campaign at the grassroots level to help the party secure House of Representatives seats in 2029.

Kaesang has also announced plans to contest that election. Speaking at PSI's regional coordination meeting in Surakarta on July 25, 2026, he said he would run for the House in Central Java V, the electoral district that includes Surakarta and is represented by House Speaker Puan Maharani.

Calls for a leadership change

Some PSI officials have asked Jokowi to take the party's top post. Warta Ekonomi reported that the Cirebon Regency board visited his home in Solo and urged him to become central board chairman in hopes of increasing PSI's vote in 2029. Jokowi asked why they wanted him to take the position. The delegation also invited him to a regional coordination meeting in Cirebon scheduled for November 2026.

Jamiluddin Ritonga, a political communication observer at Esa Unggul University, predicted on October 23 that Jokowi would decline calls to replace Kaesang. In comments reported by Suara.com, he argued that taking over would damage Kaesang's standing and that Jokowi wanted his son to receive credit for any breakthrough into parliament. Those comments were an observer's assessment, not an announcement of Jokowi's decision.

PSI's route to parliament

PSI has yet to win a House seat in its two national election attempts. Channel News Asia reported that the party received about 1.9 percent of the vote in 2019 and about 2.8 percent in 2024, short of the 4 percent parliamentary threshold both times.

Polling in 2026 also placed PSI below that threshold. According to The Jakarta Globe, an August survey by Poltracking Indonesia measured its support at 2.3 percent, while Indonesia Political Opinion recorded 1.9 percent in a survey conducted from July 27 to August 3.

The threshold for the next election remains unsettled. Indonesia's Constitutional Court ruled in 2024 that the existing 4 percent requirement must be revised before the 2029 election, without specifying a replacement, Channel News Asia reported. Parties have discussed figures ranging from 5 to 7 percent, but formal House discussion is not expected until 2027.