TEMPO.CO, Malang - Bido Suswono, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P]’s coordinator of Pro-Megawati Soekarnoputri [Promeg] of East Java chapter, said he balked at campaigning for the party after it announced the wildly popular Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as its presidential hopeful.
“I didn’t join the campaigns at all. Since the beginning, I have supported Megawati as the presidential contender,” he said on Sunday, March 30, 2014.
He added thousands of Promeg members had said they would abstain in the upcoming elections and refrained from joining the party’s campaigns.
He said the Promeg members feared the Jakarta governor would be controlled by irresponsible parties if he was elected president. He commented further that Jokowi was bereft of the necessary experience to solve the country’s acute problems.
Bido said among the problems currently besetting the nations were unemployment, food crises, corruption, piling debts, and abuse of natural resources by foreign companies. “This is very dangerous. How can Jokowi tackle all of these issues?” he said.
Bido said he had also found circulating copies of a document on his dismissal from the party’s membership. But he commented, however, that he had not received any letter from the party on his discharge.
PDI-P secretary of Malang chapter Prijatmoko Oetomo, meanwhile, could not be reached for comments on this matter.
EKO WIDIANTO