NasDem Denies Plans for Merger with Gerindra, Rejects Rumours of Takeover by Gibran

NasDem Party Deputy Chairman Willy Aditya stated that NasDem Chairman Surya Paloh is actually offering the concept of a political bloc, rather than a merger or fusion with other political parties. This statement was made by Willy in response to rumours that NasDem would merge with Gerindra Party.

“What is being offered by Surya Paloh is a political bloc. A political bloc, not a merger,” he said when met in the parliamentary complex, Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday.

He explained that a political bloc is part of political engineering as an effort to block the current tendency of political parties to engage in transactional relationships.

“It’s been very transactional all this time, right? So, we need a solid political bloc from top to bottom, like that. Don’t misunderstand it as a merger,” he said.

He regretted those who use the merger narrative. According to him, that term is not appropriate in the political context.

Willy acknowledged that Indonesia’s political landscape has previously been marked by fusions or mergers of parties, but those were driven by state decisions.

“We have a tradition of party fusions, but that was driven from above by those in power. Party mergers only happened twice: Islamic parties becoming PPP, nationalist parties becoming PDI,” he explained.

He assessed that those using the merger narrative failed to grasp Surya Paloh’s idea, which he believes is full of reflective considerations.

“They should capture that Mr Surya is someone who thinks out of the box. We’ve always thought only in terms of shared secretariats, coalition parties. Coalitions are in the candidacy process. Meanwhile, in government, we don’t know coalitions,” he said.

“We have a presidential system; coalition government is known in parliamentary systems,” he continued, explaining the background of the political bloc idea.

He further exemplified the implementation of political blocs in Indonesia.

“Golkar is a political bloc. Remember the old Party and Functional Groups Law. That means we had two political blocs. One, when Bung Karno issued the decree, it was called the National Front, named Nasakom. The second, the functional groups, previously Sekber Golkar. That was a political bloc,” said Willy.

Meanwhile, when asked about the meeting between Surya Paloh and President Prabowo Subianto, who is also Gerindra Party Chairman, Willy said it was normal.

“It’s normal for two friends to meet. When Mr Prabowo first came to Gondangdia (NasDem Tower), we discussed for six hours about many things. Where can there be something more familiar, more intimate, to dialectically discuss like that? Surya Paloh and Mr Prabowo at that time could discuss equally about many things,” he said.