Jokowi is out of office but not out of politics

Former president Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, may have left office, but he is not leaving politics. Over three days in late June, from the 26th to the 28th, he toured Lampung wearing the colours of PSI, the party led by his youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, and asked crowds to support it. As Channel News Asia reports, analyst Aditya Perdana of Universitas Indonesia sees this as the first stop of a longer tour aimed at the 2029 election.

Two goals sit behind the trip. The first is to build PSI, still a small party, into a real force with Kaesang at its head. The second is to protect the position of Jokowi's elder son, Vice-President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, so that Gibran keeps his place as President Prabowo Subianto's running mate if Prabowo seeks a second term. In short, Jokowi is working to keep his family close to power after his own presidency.

The open question is whether he still has the pull to do it. Jokowi left office popular, but influence fades once a leader loses the tools of the job. Some analysts doubt a former president can pass his standing to his sons and a young party by will alone. The Lampung tour is an early test of how much of his old support he can still move.

Why it matters

For voters, this is about whether one family can keep shaping national politics long after a single presidency, which affects how open the 2029 contest will be. If you follow Indonesian democracy, watch how PSI does in local votes and whether Gibran stays on the ticket, both are signs of the plan working or stalling. It also shapes the choices ordinary Indonesians will have at the ballot box.