Ahmad Ali Urges Nasdem to Retain Voters and Cadres Against PSI Rather Than Push 7 Percent Parliamentary Threshold

PANDEGLANG – The chairman of the Solidarity Indonesia Party (PSI), Ahmad Ali, has delivered a message to Nasdem’s chairman Surya Paloh regarding the proper approach to prevent PSI from entering parliament.

Ali stated that Nasdem should focus on making the public content so that their voters do not defect to PSI, rather than attempting to force the parliamentary threshold to rise from 4 to 7 percent.

For context, since PSI’s establishment in 2014, the party has never successfully entered the DPR (People’s Consultative Assembly). However, PSI now aspires to become a winning party.

“If those outside view this as deliberately designed to block PSI, PSI does not see this as the way to block us. The way to block PSI is to make the public content. So they won’t choose PSI, right? Existing parties should behave well so that people don’t seek other parties,” Ali said in Pandeglang, Banten, on Thursday evening (26/2/2026).

If voters are content, he argued, party cadres would certainly not defect.

PSI has indeed been receiving numerous new cadres, predominantly senior figures from Nasdem, including Ahmad Ali, Bestari Barus, and Rusdi Masse.

“So it’s not because they’re seeking Ahmad Ali or following me, no. Rather, it’s about their comfort level, in my view. And PSI has never seen this as an attempt to block us; instead, it could be that they’re digging their own grave,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, Ali suspects that Nasdem may be digging its own grave by proposing to raise the parliamentary threshold.

Ali emphasised that PSI is highly confident in facing the 2029 election to secure parliamentary seats.

“I suspect that Nasdem might be digging its own grave with that rule. PSI is extremely confident across all fronts – we’ve designed this party to be adaptive. Adaptive to all circumstances. Whether it’s 2 percent, 3 percent, or 7 percent, PSI will never object,” Ali added.

Director of Indonesia Political Review (IPR), Iwan Setiawan, views the proposal as a political manoeuvre targeting the Solidarity Indonesia Party (PSI), amid the significant flow of Nasdem cadres defecting to the party.

“The political context of Surya Paloh’s statement is not merely about discussing the quality of democracy and the effectiveness of parliament and government,” Iwan told Kompas.com on Sunday (22/2/2025).