The ideas of the new leader, Prabowo, sparked de

"Pak Prabowo has repeatedly expressed his strong desire to gather and discuss with the former president so as to form a presidential club," said Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak when interviewed by Kompas TV.

This club will be a forum for exchanging views and ideas on national strategic issues, so that Pak Prabowo can benefit from the experience of his predecessors in governing the country, said Dahnil.

Earlier this week, he said the Presidential Club would not be formal and there were no plans to institutionalize it, unlike the Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres). Wantimpres is a government institution that provides advice to the Indonesian president on daily government affairs and is regulated in Article 16 of the 1945 Constitution.

By the time Prabowo takes office on October 20, Indonesia will have three living former presidents: Mr Joko Widodo, Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Ms Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Mr Widodo and SBY's party welcomed the idea of forming such a club, and the incumbent even joked that his successor could meet with the former president every other day.

The Democratic Party led by Yudhoyono also welcomed the proposal. Senior party official Andi Mallarangeng, a Yudhoyono confidant, said the country's sixth president would support the idea, news site Kompas.com reported.

The United States has a club like that, said Andi.

Living US presidents, as well as living former presidents, gather at state funerals and for various reasons. Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W Bush all took advantage of their predecessors when they were in office.

For example, George W Bush stood alongside two former presidents, his father George HW Bush and Bill Clinton, in early 2005 when calling for donations for victims of the 2004 Aceh earthquake and tsunami. In 2010, Obama, flanked by Clinton and George W Bush, seeks help for earthquake victims in Haiti.