Jokowi's Son, Kaesang Pangarep, Appointed As The Head of A Political Party After Joining Last Week

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The youngest child of President Joko Widodo, Kaesang Pangarep, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI). Kaesang Pangarep officially assumed the position of PSI Chairman, even though he has only been a party member for less than a week.

Kaesang, born in 1994, has no previous political experiences. After graduating from college in Singapore, he decided to become businessmen and stock trader. 

Five of his culinary businesses were reportedly gone bankrupt. However, Kaesang has proven himself as an insightful trader after predicting that the stocks of stake-owned pharma company would rise, just before his father gave a public announcement that the company would distribute the COVID-19 vaccines in 2020.

Kaesang is replacing singer Giring Ganesha as the head of PSI. The founder of PSI, Grace Natalie, rhetorically asked her party members about who would be the replacement for Giring Ganesha to the attending party members.

"Who will be the next chairman?" asked Grace during a rally in Jakarta on Monday.

"Kaesang," answered the party members.

"Who, bro and sis?" Grace asked.

"Shout out his name," she said.

"Kaesang!" shouted the party members.

At the time of this announcement, all members of the PSI Provincial Executive Board stood on the stage.

Then, a video was played. The video featured a painting of a rose, which later transformed into a puzzle of photos of Kaesang with the caption "Kaesang Pangarep Chairman of PSI.”

"Deciding, determining, the appointment of Mr. Kaesang Pangarep as the Chairman of the Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Solidarity Party," said Grace.

Earlier, Giring Ganesha stated that he had recommended Kaesang Pangarep name as the new Chairman of PSI to succeed him.

"Perhaps for many political elites, it may seem strange for a chairman to recommend his successor. In PSI, we are taught about the collectivity of work, the position is about managerial roles, but the workload is always shared together," said Giring in his statement.

Giring mentioned that Kaesang's desire to become the Chairman of PSI was also driven by the support of all PSI members.

"Therefore, for the past three months, I have been in intensive communication with Mas Kaesang and friends in the regions. The spirit is that PSI must secure seats in the Parliament in the upcoming 2024 elections. This is the aspiration of all PSI members," he said.

Although it is unusual for the position of Chairman to change, according to Giring, the selection of Kaesang is part of PSI's strategy.

"Perhaps it's not common, amidst many parties where the highest position remains unchanged. But the fact is, in PSI, it's like that. The structure is about how we collectively achieve our goals, and it can be restructured according to the party's strategic needs. So, it's always in line with the spirit of the times," he said.

Now all Jokowi's immediate family members are involved in politics. His eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was elected as the Mayor of Solo. And Jokowi's son-in-law also mayoral election in Medan.

Nanda Perdana Putra contributed to this report.