NasDem's Paloh Ally Denies Merger with Gerindra: Proposes Political Bloc

NasDem’s deputy chairman Willy Aditya has rejected the term merger or amalgamation of his party with Gerindra, as reported in Tempo magazine released on Sunday (12/4). He stated that Paloh is offering a political bloc.

According to Willy, his party’s general chairman, Surya Paloh, is proposing a political bloc or inter-party cooperation. He criticised the use of the term merger by those lacking political literacy.

“Look at our references. Mr Surya is someone concerned with our political situation. What is our political reference? It’s a Political Bloc. These people discussing it are poor, I say, poor in political literature. That’s why they use the term merger,” Willy said at the parliamentary complex on Monday (13/4).

The chairman of the DPR’s human rights commission described the use of merger as a form of discrediting NasDem and Gerindra. According to him, they lack capability in political literature.

Willy explained that Indonesia has only known the term coalition so far. However, coalitions are only used in the candidacy process and not in government because Indonesia follows a presidential system.

“Coalition government is known in parliamentary systems. Read, iqra’ then. What Surya Paloh is offering is a Political Bloc. Political bloc, not merger,” he said.

According to Willy, a political bloc is a political machine to unite a vision and ideals into one breath. This cooperation is not based on transactional grounds.

“Now, we need a solid Political Bloc from top to bottom. That’s it, Boss. Don’t understand it as merger. These people don’t read, people who don’t have political literature,” he said.

Willy noted that Indonesia has a history of party fusions when Islamic parties were unified into PPP and nationalists into PDI. An example of a political bloc can also be seen in Golkar, which was formed through the Joint Secretariat of three organisations: Kosogor, Soksi, and MKGR.

Political blocs were also carried out by Bung Karno through the National Front decree. That means, Willy said, Indonesia has two histories of political blocs.

“One was Bung Karno naming it when he issued the decree called the National Front named Nasakom. The second is Golongan Karya previously Sekber Golkar. That’s a Political Bloc,” Willy said.

“So people don’t understand how politics works. They simplify, discredit, so they interpret it arbitrarily,” he added.

In agreement, NasDem’s deputy general chairman Saan Mustopa said that to date, there has been no serious discussion regarding the idea of merging or fusing his party with Gerindra. Saan did not deny the issue. However, he referred to it with another term, namely fusion.

“We haven’t even, there’s no specific matter related to that fusion. And I’m sure it’s the same elsewhere. Because we’re now still focused on consolidating our internals,” Saan said at the parliamentary complex.

The deputy chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives admitted to being surprised by the merger idea of his party referring to the Tempo magazine report published on Sunday (12/4).

Saan also claimed to know nothing about the news of a meeting between his general chairman, Surya Paloh, and President Prabowo Subianto discussing the merger idea.

“Precisely, I don’t understand because even if a meeting happens, I didn’t attend. What the agenda is, I don’t know,” Saan said.

However, Saan viewed the idea as something common. Especially since Indonesia has gone through a period when several parties were merged into one at the beginning of the New Order government in 1973.

However, for it to truly happen, Saan said there are many factors to consider, from ideology, idealism, to shared aspirations.

“And once again, the idea of discourse related to fusion is normal as discourse, as an idea, as a concept. It’s just how to contextualise it later, many things need to be thought about,” Saan said.