Gerindra: coalition door closes for us

The Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) concluded that the door has, for now, closed for the party to join the ruling coalition.

Gerindra secretary general Ahmad Muzani said on Sunday that a statement made by State Secretary Sudi Silalahi made it clear that Gerindra is not entertaining any offers to join the ruling coalition any time soon.

Sudi had previously said that there would not be a cabinet reshuffle in near future.

Many have expected that Gerindra would be offered a place in the coalition after the party sided with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party to turn away a proposed tax graft inquiry committee at the House of Representatives.

Analysts have predicted that Gerindra would replace the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in the coalition. PKS had shown support for the proposed inquiry committee.

Ahmad said he was not sure a cabinet reshuffle would take place. “Maybe what [Sudi] means by ‘in near future’ is up to 2014,” he said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Ahmad also said that Gerindra party patron Prabowo Subianto has not yet met with the President regarding the matter.

“There have been no talks,” he said.

He said Gerindra’s move to reject the tax inquiry proposal was “a dole. Hopefully we’ll get the merit sometime later…not today”.