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PKS shown door after stand-off

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) claimed on Wednesday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono kicked the party out of the ruling coalition for rejecting the upcoming fuel price policy

Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, June 13, 2013

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PKS shown door after stand-off

T

he Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) claimed on Wednesday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono kicked the party out of the ruling coalition for rejecting the upcoming fuel price policy.

Outspoken PKS deputy secretary-general Fahri Hamzah said on Wednesday that the State Palace had shown the Islamist party the door.

'€œThe Palace told one PKS minister that our party was no longer with the coalition,'€ Fahri told reporters at the House of Representatives building.

Fahri said that the PKS was waiting for official confirmation from the ruling coalition, locally known as the Setgab koalisi. However, politicians from the coalition declined to confirm if a decision had been made regarding the fate of the PKS.

Executive chairman of the Democratic Party Syarief Hasan, who is also small and medium enterprises minister, declined to confirm Fahri'€™s statement.

'€œMaybe he said it, I don'€™t know. Probably he read the code of conduct, I have no idea,'€ Syarief told reporters at the State Palace on Wednesday, referring to an eight-point agreement that dictates that all members of the governing coalition must support the government'€™s policies, or leave the coalition.

The code of conduct, which was approved in April last year by all coalition members, was seen as a move by Yudhoyono to '€œdiscipline'€ the PKS after previous '€œpunishment'€ '€” reducing the number of ministers from the PKS from four to three '€” had failed to deter the party from rebellious anti-coalition behavior.

Syarief said that the coalition was deeply disappointed with the PKS'€™ move to reject the government'€™s fuel plan but declined to elaborate on what punishment the PKS and its three ministers would get for their rebellion.

'€œWe will see. Everything is in the code of conduct,'€ he said.

On Wednesday, the situation among members of the coalition appeared very tense.

Three PKS politicians who currently serve in Yudhoyono'€™s Cabinet '€” Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf al Jufrie and Agriculture Minister Suswono '€” did not attend a limited cabinet meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

The three were expected to attend a meeting in Lembang, Bandung, West Java, of the PKS'€™ highest lawmaking body '€” the majelis syuro '€” to decide the party'€™s stance on the fuel plan.

It was rumored that the meeting would also decide whether the PKS would leave the ruling coalition.

It was later announced that the majelis syuro meeting was canceled. PKS officials argued that the council could only convene if they received confirmation from Yudhoyono about the party'€™s place in the coalition.

The PKS has been visibly absent from recent cabinet and coalition meetings.

On Tuesday evening, Yudhoyono held a meeting with leaders of political parties in the coalition without any PKS representatives.

All party leaders including the United Development Party (PPP) chairman and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman and Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman and Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaiman Iskandar and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, were present in the meeting.

Golkar deputy chairman and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo said members of the coalition had yet to come up with a solution to the stand-off.

Sharif said that the fate of the PKS is in the hands of its own politicians.

'€œWe will wait for their decision. And then the coalition will convene against after we get their official response,'€ Sharif said on Wednesday.

Responding to the stand-off, Yudhoyono remained non-committal, saying he was aware of '€œresistance from the public and political parties to the fuel plan'€.

'€œIt is justified in a democratic country [to oppose policies], but I have the right to explain why this unpopular decision should be taken,'€ Yudhoyono said after Wednesday'€™s limited Cabinet meeting.

In an apparent swipe at the PKS, Yudhoyono said: '€œSome groups should not claim that [only] they love the people. We all love the people.'€

If the PKS leaves government coalition

'€¢ The party may lose its remaining representatives in the Cabinet: Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring, Agriculture Minister Suswono and Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri. Though the party claims to raise its funds from members'€™ donations, this could affect the party'€™s logistics ahead of the 2014 elections.

'€¢ President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would immediately have to find replacements for ministers from the PKS and risk undermining the performance of his administration, which has only a year left to make improvements.

'€¢ The party may capitalize on the ruling coalition'€™s decision to expel it to exploit voter sympathy, given the rising opposition to the planned fuel price hike ahead of the Idul Fitri celebrations when prices of staples usually go up.

'€¢ The party could provide additional political support for opposition parties, mainly the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), to block the temporary direct cash assistance (BLSM) to compensate for the fuel price increase. The government needs the green light from the House of Representatives for the populist program. The opposition parties and the PKS control 194 of 560 seats at the House.

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