TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – A total of 28 members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Expert Council have resigned from the party, citing disagreement with the party leadership’s decision to join the broader Advanced Indonesian Parliament (KIM Plus) coalition in the 2024 regional elections.
One of the resigned members, former Special Forces Commander (Kopassus) and retired Major General Soenarko, confirmed the matter. “We have resigned as members of the PKS Expert Council,” he said on Tuesday, August 27.
Soenarko criticised the PKS for betraying its constitution and bylaws (AD/ART). He expressed disappointment at the party’s decision to join KIM Plus, a coalition linked to the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka camp, in the presidential election, which he said undermined democratic principles.
“PKS (should) uphold truth, honesty and justice,” he noted.
Soenarko also opposed the PKS’s support for the political dynasty, particularly its support for Bobby Nasution, President Joko Widodo or Jokowi’s son-in-law, in the North Sumatra gubernatorial elections.
“The PKS has always been against a political dynasty, but now it supports Jokowi’s political dynasty,” Soenarko said.
Dozens of members of the PKS Expert Council also expressed their disappointment at the party’s attitude, which does not respond to the wishes of the people. Soenarko cited as an example that the PKS withdrew its support for Anies Baswedan and switched to Ridwan Kamil, the candidate supported by KIM Plus, despite Anies’ high electability.
According to him, these three reasons were enough to persuade the Expert Council to resign from the PKS. He stressed that the current position of the PKS does not correspond to the beliefs of the Expert Council, which is committed to the struggle for national change.
tempo has attempted to contact PKS spokesperson Muhammad Kholid and PKS Advisory Board Chair Tifatul Sembiring for comment but has not received a response.
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