PDI-P may collaborate with Golkar Party to ‘warn’ PD

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chief advisor Taufiq Kiemas has said that the opposition party may seek a coalition with the Golkar Party for the 2014 general elections.

Reports have been rife that Taufiq has planned to pair Puan Maharani — his daughter with former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also PDI-P chairwoman — with Golkar Party chairman Aburizal “Ical” Bakrie. Golkar has announced that Ical would be the party’s sole presidential candidate for the election.

“We need this coalition to make sure that [our chance at] the presidential election, which will be held after the legislative election, is safe. We have intensified talks with Pak Ical so that this coalition can be made at least before the presidential election,” said Taufiq, who is also the People’s Consultative Assembly speaker.

His statement was a big surprise considering that the PDI-P is currently the largest opposition party while Golkar has been President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s ally.

Golkar and PDI-P are the second- and third-biggest parties based on seats at the House of Representatives. Should the coalition become reality prior to the 2014 polls, their presidential election candidate would be a strong contender, according to political observers.

However, several PDI-P politicians have been playing down Taufiq’s political moves, calling them “aspirations of a cadre instead of an official party decision”.

PDI-P’s head of youth and sports affairs, Maruarar Sirait, reiterated the party’s stance that its official candidate for the election would be determined by Megawati.

“Our latest national congress in Bandung decided not to talk about presidential candidates today. We need to find the best timing, which is obviously not now,” he said.

Ical acknowledged that he had held intensive talks with the PDI-P.

“But it has not been necessarily linked to coalition or presidency. I talk with numerous political figures,” he said as quoted by close aide Lalu Mara Satria Wangsa.

According to Lalu Mara, Ical has been reiterating that Golkar must first focus on work to boost the party’s electability. “But the possibility [of a coalition with the PDI-P] is still there,” he added.

Reports say there have been escalating internal rifts within the PDI-P between a so-called “pragmatic group”, comprising of senior members, and an “idealistic group”, consisting of young politicians who still want to see Megawati as president.

Numerous surveys did not support Taufiq’s plan, as Puan’s popularity was far below her mother’s.

Many have also deemed Taufiq’s move to approach Golkar as a “warning” for the ruling Democratic Party (PD).

Observers say the PD has been struggling to identify its presidential candidate as nobody within
the party is considered popular enough. The party’s chief patron, Yudhoyono, is in his second
tenure as a president and cannot nominate himself as stipulated by the Constitution.

With no prospective candidate, the PD would need to seek a strong coalition. It would also be important for any party to ally with the PD, as the latter’s status as the ruling party would play significant role at the polls, said Syamsuddin Haris, a political observer at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

PD deputy secretary-general Ramadhan Pohan, said his party was yet to name any candidates or plan any form of coalition ahead the 2014 elections.

“If Golkar wants to ally with the PDI-P, just go ahead. It will be no threat to us,” he said.

Golkar and the PDI-P have never been involved in a coalition in the country’s history.