Jakarta. The Bali-based Sukarno Center will this year award its annual prize for global statesmanship to Kim Jong Un of North Korea, hailing him as a champion in the fight against neocolonialism and imperialism.

Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, a daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, after whom the award is named, made the announcement on Thursday following a meeting with Ri Jong Ryul, Pyongyang’s ambassador to Jakarta.

“We will give the award to President [sic] Kim Jong Un because he has been consistent in carrying out the ideals of the great leader, Kim Il Sung, which is to fight imperialism,” Rachmawati said.

The Sukarno Prize, traditionally handed out in recognition of contributions to world peace and development, has previously been awarded to luminaries such as Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar and India’s Mahatma Gandhi.

It is unclear how Kim Jong Un, whose saber-rattling and bellicose policies have exacerbated already strained and frosty ties with South Korea, Japan and the United States, has contributed in any way to world peace or compares even remotely with the above democracy icons.

Rachmawati noted that the Sukarno Center had previously presented the award to Kim Il Sung, whom she called a hero of independence and peace.

“So this will be a sequel, where we give the award to Kim Jong Un for his persistence in fighting neocolonialism,” she said.

Rachmawati has been appointed the honorary Asia-Pacific chairwoman of Pyongyang’s Korean reunification preparation committee – a body not recognized beyond the borders of the hermit kingdom.

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Jakarta. Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) says it is prepared to start preliminary discussions on the 2016 state budget as soon as the government sends its proposal.

“We will start by deliberating on essential fiscal and macro assumptions as well as the 2016 government work plans,” House Speaker Setya Novanto said on Monday.

Setya said during the budget’s drafting phase the House intended to remind the government of the need to anticipate adverse effects from the country’s economic slowdown.

“If the government doesn’t respond quickly enough, it will likely be difficult to return last year’s strong economic performance,” Setya said.

The Indonesian economy grew by 4.7 percent in the first three months of 2015, the slowest rate since 2009.

Bank Indonesia (BI) announced on Friday the country’s current account deficit narrowed in the first quarter from the previous one, but the surplus stemmed from tumbling imports, which reflect weak domestic demand and falling growth. Imports plunged 22 percent from a year earlier while exports declined 8.5 percent.

President Joko Widodo has said he aims to raise Indonesia’s growth rate to an average of 7 percent over his 5-year tenure.

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Jakarta. The day before the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s national congress was due to begin in Bali, party members were forced to defend an internal consensus that chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri should sit on the throne for at least another five years — notwithstanding she is currently the longest-reigning leader of a political party in Indonesia.

Megawati, the eldest daughter of Indonesia’s founding president Sukarno and herself a former president, has chaired the party better known as PDI-P since she founded it in 1999, at the beginning of Indonesia’s reform era in the wake of the fall of Suharto’s New Order regime.

While other political parties, including those that have been present since the New Order era — namely the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) — have experienced three or four leadership successions each during the span of the reforms period and after; Megawati has been leading the PDI-P for 16 years and is expected to continue to reign over the party for another five years at least.

A national meeting of the PDI-P in September last year sealed this decision, after President Joko Widodo, a junior but influential member of the party, dismissed rumors he was seeking to take over the PDI-P leadership by voicing his support for Megawati to rule the party for another five-year term. 

Joko’s suggestion was welcome unanimously by all party members present.

Approaching the day of the congress, slated to take place in Sanur, Bali from Thursday through Sunday, PDI-P politicians dismissed critics likening Megawati’s uncontested leadership in the PDI-P to a practice of feudalism.

“The year 2020 will be the time for young members to run for [party] leadership. At present, however, we still need Mega. Let the young members undergo further training,” senior PDI-P politician Sabam Sirait said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Citing serious internal rifts currently afflicting Golkar and PPP due to their respective heated races for chairmanship, Sabam said Megawati’s leadership was critical to make sure that the PDI-P would stay solid.

Maruarar Sirait, a deputy to Megawati, argued that the PDI-P, under Megawati, had been undergoing successful regeneration — citing as examples the emergence of young national leaders, such as Joko and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, whom the party has fostered.

“They are proof that Ibu Megawati has ensured regeneration of capable national leaders. And that is why many members [of PDI-P] still trust her to lead,” said Maruarar.

PDI-P lawmaker Junimart Girsang, too, defends Megawati.

“She really loves the nation and the people of Indonesia. She also really loves and cares about the party members. She is not autocratic.” 
“She is a figure difficult to find. So let’s name her the chairwoman again,” Junimart said.

Politician Eva Kusuma Sundari, believes it is only under Megawati that the PDI-P would continue to fully support the 
administration of Joko.

“Only Megawati can effectively lead PDI-P as a political party that supports Jokowi-JK,” Eva said, referring to the president with his popular nickname and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The PDI-P members were apparently dismissive of a poll result released last month by Poltracking Indonesia, which placed Megawati, her son Prananda Prabowo and daughter Puan Maharani at the bottom of a list of nine political figures whom respondents think should lead the PDI-P, which earned the most legislative seats in last year’s elections. 

Topping the list of favorites to lead PDI-P is Joko, who scored a popularity ranking of 7.68 out of 10 points. 

Behind the president are Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo and veteran politician Pramono Anung, who scored 7.41 and 7.35, respectively. 

Megawati, Prananda and Puan were ranked seventh, eighth and ninth, scoring 6.44, 5.93 and 5.74, respectively. 

The poll surveyed 200 political analysts between December and January. 

The PDI-P dismissed the study as a sham and accused the group of trying to fray the relationship between Joko and Megawati. 

Ties between the two soured when Joko refused to swear-in Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as police chief due to his alleged involvement in a 2010 graft case. 

Budi was Megawati’s security aide during her time as president from 2001-2004.

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Jakarta. The government agency charged with overseeing the placement of Indonesia’s millions of migrant workers plans to work with the National Police’s specialist detective unit to crack down on human trafficking, the agency said on Friday.

Regional offices of the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) will be briefed to build nationwide cooperation with the police’s detective unit (Bareskrim) to build a ground-up approach to criminal investigations.

“We hope we can eradicate human trafficking cases by working with the Bareskrim,” BNP2TKI protection division chief, Lisna Y. Poeloengan said on Friday.

“We also hope that the regional migrant workers placement and protection agencies and local police officers can cooperate.”

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Jakarta. Indonesia’s House of Representatives will convene a plenary session next Monday to discuss nominations for the National Police chief and for Corruption Eradication Commission leaders.

President Joko Widodo has decided to name Comr. Gen. Badroddin Haiti to head the National Police after withdrawing his earlier nomination of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan. The status of the three currently interim leaders of KPK will also be under consideration when the House, known as the DPR, returns from its recess.

After completing the recess period which ends today, House of Representatives (DPR) will hold a plenary session on March 23 to discuss several President Joko Widodo’s proposals.

DPR deputy speaker Agus Hermanto said on Friday that the nominations would be turned over to Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, after presentation at the plenary session.

“I hope this topic can be settled as soon as possible since the DPR has little time in this coming session,” Agus added.

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Jakarta. Agung Laksono on Monday continued to stage meetings with leaders from other parties, despite his reign at the helm of the Golkar Party still yet to be formally recognized by the government.

Agung met with Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri at her home in Menteng, Central Jakarta, during which he stated his party’s intention to join the government’s ruling coalition, which the PDI-P leads.

Agung had earlier met with National Democrat Party (NasDem) chairman Surya Paloh and the recently elected chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Zulkifli Hasan.

Golkar split in December, with one faction throwing its support behind Agung and the other remaining loyal to Aburizal Bakrie, the incumbent chairman.

Agung has criticized Aburizal for the party’s poor result in last April’s legislative elections as well as his support for former general Prabowo Subianto, who eventually lost the presidential race to Joko Widodo.

However, Aburizal refused to back down from his re-election bid, staging a national congress in Bali in November — months ahead of schedule.

The congress, which his rivals consider a sham, saw Aburizal re-elected for a second term.

A rival congress held in Ancol, North Jakarta, saw anti-Aburizal party members elect Agung as chief in early December.

Both sides agreed to settle the dispute through the party’s internal tribunal, which issued a decision last week.

But the tribunal’s rulings have proved controversial, with each faction drawing its own interpretations.

The tribunal issued a split decision, with two of the four judges ruling in favor of Agung, while the other two said the dispute should be settled by a court.

The PDI-P-led government has said it will accept the ruling issued by the two judges in favor of Agung.

At Monday’s meeting with Megawati, Agung openly expressed his desire to support the president, arguing that Aburizal’s leadership was the only reason Golkar emerged as an opposition party for the first time in its 50-year history.

Golkar, with 91 seats at the House, is the biggest party inside the opposition bloc, the Red White Coalition, or KMP. 

The switch could mean that the for the first time since President Joko Widodo took office last year, his ruling coalition will have a majority vote of 298 over the KMP’s 262.

Golkar, aside from securing the House speaker position, also has members chairing several House oversight commissions. 

Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly earlier said the government would immediately recognize Agung’s reign over Golkar after Agung finished formulating his national leadership board.

Agung on Monday said that he was still waiting for Aburizal’s response for a truce before submitting his structure to the government to validate.

“This is important for reconciliation [of Golkar]. We ask everyone to join in our structure,” he said.

“We have done all sorts of way to ensure that there will be a reconciliation, be it talking [to Aburizal’s supporters] directly or over the phone.”

According to Agung, several Golkar members who were originally loyal to Aburizal had switched sides.

“We have included [in our structure] names from the Bali congress like Airlangga Hartarto, Mahyuddin and Erwin Aksa,” he said. “We are expecting more.”

Agung said he had reserved a spot for Aburizal himself as chairman of Golkar’s advisory board.

Leo Nababan, the executive chairman of Agung’s version of Golkar, said there are at least 20 new names inside the party’s structure to accommodate former Aburizal supporters.

“Once [the structure] is finalized, we will submit it to the ministry of justice,” he said.

However Agung may oust legislators Ade Komarudin and Bambang Soesatyo, the current Golkar House caucus chairman and secretary general, and replace them with Agus Gumiwang and Fayakhun Andriadi, respectively.

Bambang on Monday said he would not betray Aburizal, calling former colleagues who had switched to Agung’s side “political whores.”

Aburizal’s camp has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the dispute, the worst in the party’s history.

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