Indonesia’s 7th President Joko Widodo attends PSI’s coordination meeting in Bandar Lampung on June 27, 2026, delivering a national address and meeting citizens and volunteers. (PSI)
Former Indonesian president Joko Widodo initiated his political tour across the archipelago from June 26 to 28 to campaign for the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), led by his youngest son Kaesang Pangarep, marking his most visible manoeuvre into active politics since leaving the presidency in 2024. On his first visit, he embarked for Lampung province in the country’s western island of Sumatra to attend the coordination meeting for the regional PSI office.
He was wearing the party’s full attribute when he told the crowd in Lampung that he was there since “my love for the people of Lampung has not faded; it remains. And more importantly, it is also for PSI.”
He pushed for multi-level consolidation from the central headquarters to the local region, praising the organisational reach of PSI in the province, which he said had realised a complete “party structure down to the village level”.
In a similar vein, he called on local cadres to embed themselves with “the community’s lives”, not merely to campaign ahead of elections.Beyond political engagements, he visited local MSMEs, Islamic boarding schools, and met traditional figures as well as taking part in cultural parades. At the end of his speech, he echoed his belief, saying that PSI would enter the parliament and achieve what he described as an immense target.
This momentum signifies the former president’s major political maneuver. Leveraging his still broad public appeal, he sought to increase PSI’s support base.
PSI, once a minor party with only 4,260,169 votes (2,806%) and unable to enter the parliament in 2024 due to the restriction of the parliamentary threshold, now stands to benefit from Joko Widodo’s official support. His intervention goes beyond mere political endorsement, signalling that his reign will continue through PSI. Pangarep, his youngest son, has taken the helm of the party since September 2023, leading analysts to believe that the party now controls the former president’s familial interest.
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