Bambang Pacul Responds to PSI's Ambition to Turn Central Java into a 'Stronghold'

PDI Perjuangan (PDIP) politician Bambang Wuryanto, commonly known as Bambang Pacul, has downplayed the Indonesian Solidarity Party’s (PSI) ambition to turn Central Java into its new electoral stronghold. Central Java has long been known as a ‘bull’s stronghold’ (kandang banteng) as it is a primary vote bank for PDIP.

Bambang Pacul noted that the desire to take over PDIP’s voter base in Central Java was previously voiced by the Gerindra Party. He recalled that Gerindra’s Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Ahmad Muzani, made a similar statement in February 2025 when he was still serving as the party’s Secretary-General. “Previously, Mr. Muzani also said he wanted to make it a ‘Garuda stronghold’,” Bambang Pacul said at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Tuesday, 7 July 2026.

The Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) refrained from extensively commenting on PSI’s determination, merely stating that anyone with an ambition must formulate a strategy to achieve it. “Whether that desire is then broken down into real steps to realise it, well, that will be seen on the ground,” he remarked.

PSI’s claim that Central Java will become an ‘elephant stronghold’ (kandang gajah) was made by the party’s Central Java Regional Leadership Council (DPW) Chairman, Antonius Yogo. He made the statement while explaining preparations for former President Joko Widodo’s tour of the region in July. PSI Chairman Kaesang Pangarep had previously set the target during a Regional Coordination Meeting in Solo on 8 January 2026, stating that the party aims to dominate the province in the 2029 General Election. Kaesang emphasised that achieving this goal requires a solid party structure down to the grassroots level.