Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo hosted a meeting with six pro-government party leaders at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday evening as political maneuvers are intensifying in the run-up to the elections, asking them to remain solid and united.

Interestingly enough, his guests claimed that the meeting which lasted around three hours was kept from political topics.

"Mr. Jokowi asked us to stay united, maintain harmony, and continue to work together for the nation," Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) Chairman Prabowo Subianto told reporters shortly after the closed-door meeting. 

The meeting took place exactly a month after the president met with the same party leaders except for Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was on an overseas trip at that time.

The previous meeting discussed the idea to establish the so-called grand coalition of pro-government parties for the presidential election, but Prabowo denied that the particular topic was on the agenda this time around.

The defense minister said the lengthy discussion was largely about economic issues.

"If I’m not mistaken, our PDB has topped $1.5 trillion and our economy is the 16th-biggest in the world with a good chance to climb to the fourth biggest if we can make the best of the situation," Prabowo said.

And suddenly other guests also spoke about economic issues.

United Development Party (PPP) Chairman Muhamad Mardiono talked about demographic dividends while Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto claimed that the middle-income trap was also discussed in the meeting.

The gathering was also attended by National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and National Mandate Party (PAN) Chairman Zulkifli Hasan.

The pro-government coalition is increasingly losing relevance ahead of the 2024 elections and already split into two new coalitions with Golkar, the PAN, and the PPP on one side versus Gerindra and the PKB on the other side.

The ruling party PDI-P has enough seats in the House of Representatives to nominate its own presidential candidate without the backing of other parties and did so two weeks ago by announcing Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo as a candidate.

To make things more complicated, the PPP declared support for Ganjar and held a bipartite meeting with the PDI-P only three days ago. 

Prabowo has made no secret about his ambition to run for president for a third time to challenge Ganjar and the coalition with the PKB can give him the ticket for the election.

It’s also true for Airlangga who can become a contender in 2024 provided the PAN sticks to the bipartite alliance with Golkar after PPP’s departure.

Airlangga recently visited Democratic Party Chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono to “explore other possibilities” for the elections.

The Democratic Party is widely considered as an opposition to the Jokowi government.

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