Indonesian Political Parties Playing ‘Game’ Over Cabinet Posts

Jakarta Globe, 27 Agustus 2009

A Democratic Party official is once again stirring controversy by saying that current negotiations with a major rival party about positions in the next government are merely part of a ploy to pressure coalition members to ease up on their demands.

The party’s deputy chairman, Ahmad Mubarok, said the move to approach the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was merely a counterweight to mounting questions from coalition partners about cabinet posts.

Mubarok was blamed this year for driving a wedge between the Democrats and the Golkar Party after he predicted that the 2004 election winner and its presidential candidate, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, would only gain an insignificant numbers of votes in this year’s polls.

Last week, a delegation from the Democrats met with PDI-P deal-maker Taufik Kiemas, the husband of party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, to try to forge closer ties between the rival parties. Taufik was said to be aiming for the chairmanship of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), but Mubarok said nothing had yet been settled. Mubarok did, however, describe the meeting as part of the overall “game.”

“We did not approach the PDI-P, but we are pressuring other parties so that they will not dare to ask for many things. This is a political game,” Mubarok said at a discussion held by the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that while almost everything was acceptable in politics, using another party as part of a strategy to pressure others was “unethical.”

“It will not be good in building political trust among coalition member parties,” he said.

The Democrats formed a loose coalition with 24 other mostly minor parties ahead of the July 8 presidential election. Members of winning coalitions usually split cabinet seats among themselves.

Mahfudz Siddiq, an executive from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), one of the larger parties in the coalition, said he treated Mubarok’s remarks as a simple joke, adding that his party was unconcerned by the Democrats’ approach to the PDI-P.

He said that discussions about cabinet seats between the coalition partners could only start once the new House of Representatives was sworn in on Oct. 1. “For us, our position can only be made after official talks between party leaders,” he said.

Senior PDI-P official Tjahjo Kumolo shrugged off the concerns, saying it was common for political parties to build lines of communication with or without a coalition agreement.

Meanwhile, Mubarok lauded the tactical move, saying coalition members had already softened their stance. “With this maneuver, [the coalition parties] say that they will follow Yudhoyono’s decision,” he said.