Coalition partners won't beg for posts

The Democratic Party's coalition partners have said they have not received "invitations" for positions in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's upcoming Cabinet, which are slated to be announced in October.

They insisted they would not propose names for the next Cabinet unless Yudhoyono asked them to do so.

"We will not be pro-active in asking for ministerial posts. It is up to Yudhoyono to decide whether he needs us in the next Cabinet or not," Lukman Hakim Syafiuddin, a lawmaker from the Unity Development Party (PPP), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

"For us, becoming a minister must be mandated and we will not beg for ministerial posts."

Aside from the PPP, Yudhoyono's coalition block includes the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Zulkifli Hassan, a PAN executive, said his party too was waiting for an official invitation from Yudhoyono before it proposed candidates for the cabinet.

"We don't know yet whether Yudhoyono wants us to fill the cabinet. But we will talk power- sharing once Yudhoyono asks the PAN to join his Cabinet," he said.

The PKS is currently the only coalition party which has announced plans to propose ministerial candidates to Yudhoyono.

PKS treasurer Mahfudz Abdurrahman said that the party would propose four names, including incumbent Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Adhyaksa Dault.

"We have four candidates we will propose for ministerial posts, but it is up to Yudhoyono whether or not they will be included in the cabinet," he said, as quoted by Antara.

President Yudhoyono earlier said he would pick professionals with and without backgrounds in party politics to be his next ministers.

The Democratic Party has also invited the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to join its mammoth coalition.

Deputy Democratic Party chairman Ahmad Mubarok said the recent discussion with the PDI-P was part of a "political game" intended to warn coalition members against pressuring Yudhoyono about cabinet position.

Democratic Party executives met with former presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri to discuss the possibility of Taufik Kiemas, chief patron of the PDI-P and Megawati's husband, becoming speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly.

Maswadi Rauf, a political expert from the University of Indonesia, said Yudhoyono would strive to embrace all parties to ensure support over the next five years.

"It is very likely Golkar will join Yudhoyono's cabinet whoever wins the party's chairmanship in October," he said.

Maswadi said he expects the Democratic Party will also try to persuade the PDI-P to join Yudhoyono's government by offering it ministerial seats.

"The chances of Golkar and the PDI-P getting ministerial posts under Yudhoyono are wide open."

Maswadi however warned that the country's democratic process would be seriously set back if the PDI-P accepted the offer of ministerial posts.

"If it happens, we will see the return of the Soeharto's era: the House of Representatives would stop functioning as a check on the executive," he said.