Senior Golkar Party Politican Priyo Budi Santoso rejected the notion that the coalition’s joint secretariat had to approve every policy stance for member parties.

“If that happens, democracy is no longer healthy and the legislators at the House of Representatives have no function,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The government coalition has had several conflicts with the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), after the parties took stances opposed to those held by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party during several votes in the House.

The latest spat involved Golkar’s and the PKS’ support of a special House commission to investigate corruption in the tax office, a move staunchly opposed by the Democratic Party.

After the proposed inquiry narrowly failed during a vote at a House plenary session, Yudhoyono said he would reevaluate the future of the coalition, claiming that his political partners had failed to fulfill their commitments.

The coalition’s constituent political parties announced last week their renewed commitment to the coalition, stating that members would refrain from criticizing government policies in the mass media.

Coalition members also agreed to revitalize meetings of the coalition’ joint secretariat and to improve communications to help the government explain its policies to the people.

Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam said as genuine coalition, people from parties in the coalition sitting in both the government and the House should take a single stance based on the decisions of the secretariat.

“It is an ideal coalition. But the reality is still different,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday in
his office.

“The House, for example, is more loyal to their friends in the same [House] commissions than to their political parties.”

Given such loyalties, it would difficult to “force” legislators to follow a single line determined by the secretariat, he said.

Dipo, however, said he was upbeat that the leaders of the coalition’s constituent parties would support the joint secretariat’s decisions.

“The problem is at the level of the legislators,” he said.

The secretary of the joint secretariat, Syarifuddin Hasan of the Democratic Party, previously said that the parties in the coalition agreed to stop taking different stances on cases such as the controversial Bank Century bailout.

Coalition parties were divided when the House of Representatives discussed both the bailout and
the proposed tax corruption in-quiry, with the Democratic Party, Golkar and the PKS taking different stances.

Thahjo Kumolo, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that the debate  on the role of the coalition’s joint secretariat must not distract  legislators from the performance of their duties.

“The House of Representatives is not part of the government. The talks on the coalition should not disturb the functions of legislators,” Thahjo  said.

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