SBY won’t expel Golkar, PKS: PDI-P

Despite his victory Tuesday against perceived attempts by the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to undermine his government, it remains difficult for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to oust the parties from his ruling coalition, a senior politician and a political analyst said Thursday.

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung Wibowo from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the party’s former secretary-general, said the two parties, especially Golkar, the second-largest party in the House, were very powerful.

“Given his leadership style, the President does not have the courage to kick out the two parties as he realizes their presence outside the coalition will certainly undermine his administration,” Pramono said in a panel discussion Thursday.

Pramono denied rumors the PDI-P would likely join in the ruling coalition and would receive in return several ministerial posts in the Cabinet.

Golkar, the PKS, the PDI-P and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) on Tuesday failed to gather enough House votes to form a committee of inquiry to probe the country’s corrupt taxation system. They only scraped together 264 votes, while Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) got 266 votes.

This marks the second time that Golkar and the PKS have taken a stance in opposition to the ruling coalition. Early last year, they successfully supported a bid to form a committee of inquiry to probe the controversial Bank Century bailout.

Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) political analyst Burhanuddin Muhtadi said Yudhoyono’s government could be rendered ineffective if Golkar was expelled from the coalition.

“The PDI-P, Golkar and Hanura — with or without Gerindra — could form a strong bloc at the House and stall the government’s policies and development programs, as well as set up other inquiries into the government’s policies and decisions,” he said.

Burhanuddin added that the House’s decision to not form the tax graft committee was symptomatic of the incompatibility of the country’s presidential system and the extreme multi-party nature of the legislature.

“Even if the proposed inquiry had been approved, it would have ended not with the President’s impeachment, but with a political compromise among party elites,” he said.

Burhanuddin said political parties in the House formed political cartels and used all political means to hammer out political or economic bargains. “Parties and their representatives in the House ignore the political code of ethics,” he said.

Golkar’s Priyo Budi Santoso said his party accepted the House’s decision to not form the inquiry, but added that he remained disappointed as the decision would only worsen the House’s tarnished image.

He said that had the committee been set up, representatives from all 153 companies possibly linked to the high-profile graft case of former taxman Gayus H. Tambunan — including three run by Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie’s family — would be questioned and regulatory discrepancies investigated.