SBY may axe Golkar, PKS from coalition

Boosted by a victory over the Golkar Party in the proposed tax graft inquiry committee vote, the Democratic Party said Wednesday that the ruling coalition could continue without the country’s second largest party.

Saan Mustofa, an executive of the party founded by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said PD is currently evaluating Golkar’s and the Prosperous Justice Party’s (PKS) membership in the ruling coalition because of their rebellious attitudes. In a plenary session at the House of Representatives Tuesday, the two parties opted to go against the position of the coalition’s joint secretariat by supporting the proposal to create an inquiry committee to probe tax graft.

Golkar and the PKS said the
proposed committee aimed to reform the nation’s graft-ridden taxation system, but several Democratic Party politicians alleged that — like the House’s Bank Century bailout probe in 2010 — it was a disguised plot to pressure the Yudhoyono administration.

The Democratic Party and its allies managed to block the proposal with the last minute support of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the United Development Party (PPP) in a dramatic vote that ended with only 264 out of the 530 lawmakers who attended the plenary in support of it.

Saan said the results of their evaluation of Golkar and the PKS would soon be handed to the President for further action. Yudhoyono chairs the coalition’s joint secretariat and is now reportedly mulling a possible Cabinet reshuffle.

“A difference of opinion is normal and tolerable under certain conditions but when it happens repeatedly it is not good for anyone. If the two parties no longer feel at home in the coalition they can voluntarily leave and stay out of the government,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum declined to discuss the possible political sanctions to be imposed on Golkar and the PKS, but he was clear that the ruling coalition would be fine without them, indicating that the party would be ready to face the consequences of having Golkar in the opposition camp.

Politicians from the remaining political parties in the coalition have asked Golkar and the PKS to leave if they continue to oppose the coalition.

Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie said his party was ready to leave the coalition if the Democratic Party wanted it to as “political punishment” for its strong support for the tax inquiry proposal.

“Golkar is prepared to be off the coalition if they want it,” he said when asked to comment on Wednesday.

Aburizal said he doubted the President would want Golkar to leave and played down the perceived rifts in the coalition. “There is no problem with the pro-government coalition in the joint secretariat. The differences of opinion among coalition members should not lead to any enmity because such conditions are tolerated in the country’s politics. Golkar therefore accepts the House’s decision.”

Anas said he could not respond regarding whether the President would reshuffle

the cabinet or expel the two parties’ politicians from the cabinet because it was up to the President himself.

“The more important thing is that the inquiry into the tax mafia is entrusted to law enforcers and the House should closely monitor the investigation,” he said.