PDIP Secretary General Criticizes Jokowi over Government Debt and Gibran's Nomination

Emir Yanwardhana, CNBC Indonesia

Saturday, 03/30/2024 22:00 WIB

Photo: Secretary General of the PDI Perjuangan (PDIP) Hasto Kristiyanto giving a statement at the Ganjar-Mahfud National Winning Team (TPN) Command Post, Kebon Sirih, Jakarta (15/2/2024). (CNBC Indonesia/Faisal Rahman)

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto criticized the large government debt of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). According to him, Indonesia is currently experiencing progress supported by debt.

Apart from that, Hasto also attributed his party’s decision to nominate Jokowi’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka as Mayor of Solo, to be a mistake.

Hasto said that his party made a mistake in nominating Gibran Rakabuming at the start of his political career as Cawalkot Solo in 2020. He talked about his despair at that time because he saw the progress made by Jokowi.

“To be honest, we made a mistake when we first nominated Gibran because on the other hand, we also acknowledged the progress made by Pak Jokowi,” said Hasto in an online discussion, Saturday (30/3/2024).

Photo: President Joko Widodo with his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka giving a press statement after visiting the birth of his third grandson at PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital, Surakarta, Friday, November 15 2019. Photo: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr.
President Joko Widodo and his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka give a press statement after visiting the birth of their third grandson at PKU Muhammadiyah Hospital, Surakarta, Friday, November 15 2019. Photo: BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr.

Collect CNN IndonesiaHowever, recently Hasto realized that President Jokowi’s progress was made through a very large debt burden. He said that the current government debt has almost reached US$ 196 billion, and does not include BUMN debt which has reached US$ 220 billion.

“After we looked more deeply, it turned out that this progress was triggered by a very large debt burden, our debt, government debt almost reached US$ 196 billion, it turns out that private and state-owned debt almost reached US$ 220 billion,” he said.

According to Hasto, if the two debts are combined, Indonesia has the potential to face serious problems in the future. Under the conditions, he admitted that he was increasingly worried because the practice of nepotism was actually getting stronger.

He gave the example of the candidacy of the President’s secretary who was running as a candidate for regent of Boyolali. According to Hasto, the nomination will be based on the PDIP in Central Java.

Previously, the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) recorded government debt of IDR 8,041.01 trillion as of the end of November 2023. This figure is the highest record. Government debt previously reached a record last October after reaching IDR 7,950.52 trillion.

Responding to this, the Director General of Financing and Risk Management at the Ministry of Finance, Suminto, assessed that Indonesia’s outstanding debt of IDR 8,041.01 trillion was still safe.

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