Indonesia’s Widodo backs son’s party for 2029 election with new political tour

Indonesia’s former president Joko Widodo has begun a nationwide political tour that analysts say is aimed at transforming his younger son’s small party from a marginal player into a significant force before the 2029 elections.

Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, kicked off the tour in Lampung on Friday, using the visit to appear alongside Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) officials and accept a local royal title, signalling that he remains a force in Indonesian politics after leaving office.

Dressed in the colours of the PSI – a youth-oriented party founded in 2014 and now chaired by his younger son, Kaesang Pangarep – Widodo was in Lampung to attend the party’s local congress.

Unofficially, he was there to throw his weight behind PSI and keep himself politically relevant, according to analysts.

“Jokowi clearly has concluded that it is time to develop PSI into a credible political force,” said Marcus Mietzner, an Indonesia specialist at the Australian National University and author of the recently released biography of the former president, Ruling Indonesia: Jokowi’s Presidency in an Age of Democratic Crisis and Great Power Competition.

When Widodo left office in October 2024, he had an approval rating of 75 per cent in an Indikator Politik Indonesia survey released that month.

PSI has sought to cast itself as a fresh, progressive alternative to Indonesia’s older political parties but has struggled to convert that image into broad electoral support.