RIFT DEVELOPING AMONG GOVT COALITION PARTIES ?

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Dec 23 (ANTARA) - The 2014 presidential race  is still about three years away , yet the political parties in the government coalition have begun making certain  maneuvers with the smaller ones accusing their two major  partners - the ruling Democrat Party (PD) and the Golkar Party -  of capitalizing  on their dominant position  at the expense of their juniors.          It was reported that the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) had asked the other smaller partners in the coalition - the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) - to form an axis to countervail the dominance of the PD and Golkar.          The PKS  said the smaller parties in the coalition would feel the impact of the PD-Golkar dominance, especially  in the face of the 2014 general elections.         However, PD Chairman Anas Urbaningrum denied there was an  internal rift among political parties in the Joint Secretariat of the Government Coalition (Setgab).          "I don't think there are frictions within the coalition," Anas Urbaningrum said after speaking at a year-end discussion on recruitment of political party members, law enforcement and corruption eradication here on Thursday.          The PD  chairman said the initial purpose of the  joint secretariat was to form a permanent coalition.  "This is our common commitment agreed upon by the Setgab," Anas said.          The deputy secretary general of PKS, Mahfudz Siddiq, had earlier said that the smaller parties in the government coalition would feel the impact of the maneuvers and the interests of the PD and Golkar in the face of the general elections in 2014.          "The axis parties in the coalition will be hammed in between the maneuvers of the Democrat Party and Golkar which would themselves tightly compete in the 2014 elections capitalizing on the joint secretariat," Mahfudz said.          He predicted that in 2014, the Democrat Party and Golkar would nominate their respective presidential candidates. They will use and take the advantage of the secretariat in the remaining three years to consolidate and mobilize their human resources.          Mahfudz saw the dynamism in the joint secretariat as being funny. PD and Golkar which underwent a political 'marriage' often experienced political conflict and often 'held hostage' with each other, yet they often collaborate on behalf of the joint secretariat.         PKS is of the view that Golkar's and PD's domination within the joint secretariat had weakened the function of the Setgab itself.          In response to this, Anas Urabaningrum only said what was needed to be built within the Setgab was to increase communications among the political parties in the government coalition. "Information about the ministerial cabinet meeting should also be received by all political parties in the Setgab," Anas said.          Yet, PKS --which put forward the idea of forming an axis force among PKS, PAN, PPP and PKB to face the PD and Golkar-- even  created a discourse that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) would be asked to join the axis force, particularly in nominating a presidential candidate in the 2014 presidential elections.          Secretary General of PDIP Tjahjo Kumolo said meanwhile that a member of the government coalition which intended to have a strategic talk with PDIP in the face of the 2014 general elections must first break away from the government's coalition.          "In principle, we are ready to have a dialog on the 2014 elections with a political party which has a minister in the government cabinet but it has to leave the cabinet in the first place,"  Tjahjo said.          He said that political parties which wanted to have a deal with the PDIP on the 2014 elections should not play a game in two places. "Don't play in two places. It should not happen that one leg is in the government while the other one is with us," he said.          The PKS move to establish an axis force is jut another indication of the fragility of the Setgab in the face of the political developments in the country.          Last June, Golkar even once threatened to break away from the Setgab when one of its proposals was rejected by coalition partners.          Golkar tabled a pork barrel fund, where each House member would be given control over Rp15 billion in funds from the state budget to implement development projects considered urgent in the electoral region he or she is representing. On the whole, it would mean an additional state expenditure of Rp8,4 trillion per year.          The proposal, which was called aspiration funds, was rejected.  "Representatives of parties in coalition have discussed the aspiration funds for members of the House of Representatives (DPR) at the Setgab. But why it is rejected. All have to share common responsibility," Yamin Tawari, associate chairman of the Golkar's Executive Board, said.          Yamin Tawari, was reported to have said that Golkar felt abandoned by the other parties in the coalition with regard to its proposal for the allocation of "aspiration" (pork barrel) funds for legislators, and therefore it was no longer necessary for the party to remain in the coalition.          However, Golkar vice general chairman Theo Smabuaga was quick to deny the party wished to leave the joint secretariat. "On the contrary, we want to stay in the coalition's joint secretariat to intensify discussions on strategic and fundamental issues affecting the country and the people," he said.          Theo said Golkar, the second biggest party after the ruling Democrat Party, had no intention at all of quitting the coalition of parties supporting the government.           He said it was not impossible for coalition members to have differences of view. "It is a normal thing in a democracy. But differences do not need to be blown up. We will continue building unity to support the implementation of various strategic programs," he said.     (T.A014/A/HAJM/19:50/H-YH) 23-12-2010 20:13