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PKS in or out? SBY says nothing

The ruling Democratic Party has grown impatient with the Prosperous Justice Party’s (PKS) double-dealing and ordered politicians of the Islamic-based party to leave the governing coalition immediately

Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, June 14, 2013

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PKS in or out? SBY says nothing

T

he ruling Democratic Party has grown impatient with the Prosperous Justice Party'€™s (PKS) double-dealing and ordered politicians of the Islamic-based party to leave the governing coalition immediately.

With Democratic Party chairman President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remaining non-committal about the fate of the PKS in the ruling coalition, Democrat executives were more direct about expelling the party from the government.

'€œIt would be more honorable for the PKS to leave the coalition. The party should be more decisive and if they are firm about it, they should withdraw now,'€ Democratic Party secretary-general Andi Nurpati said.

Andi was responding to a statement made by the PKS leadership, which insisted that the party'€™s three ministers in the Cabinet had to be retained in spite of its rejection of the government'€™s planned fuel increase.

The PKS leadership said on Thursday that the party could leave the coalition but it wanted Yudhoyono to retain three of its ministers within the Cabinet, namely Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring, Agriculture Minister Suswono and Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri.

'€œIn the code of conduct, there is no clause stating that our party must withdraw our ministers,'€ leader of the PKS faction at the House of Representatives, Hidayat Nur Wahid, said in a press conference on Thursday. '€œIf we are all bound by the code of conduct, don'€™t tell us what to do [...] unless there is fine print of which we are unaware,'€ Hidayat said, hinting that the PKS had already left the coalition.

A meeting of the leaders of the political parties in the coalition had agreed a code of conduct that stipulates that all members of the governing coalition must support the government'€™s policies or leave the coalition.

It was approved in April 2012 by all coalition members and was seen as a move by Yudhoyono to '€œdiscipline'€ the PKS after his 2011 '€œpunishment'€ '€” reducing the number of PKS ministers from four to three '€” failed to deter the party from rebelling against the coalition.

Hidayat said Yudhoyono had the right to decide the fate of the PKS'€™ three Cabinet ministers.

'€œThat'€™s why we leave it to the President to use his prerogative [regarding the three ministers],'€ he said, insisting that the stances taken by the three ministers represented their own personal opinions.

Hidayat also confirmed an earlier statement made by PKS deputy secretary-general Fahri Hamzah, that the State Palace had told one PKS minister that the party was no longer in the coalition.

Hidayat rejected the accusation that by dragging its feet in the fuel plan standoff, the PKS was engaging in a public relations campaign to mend its tarnished image following the beef import scandal.

The PKS also struck a defiant note by calling Yudhoyono'€™s bluff.

Responding to the standoff on Wednesday, Yudhoyono remained noncommittal, saying he was aware of '€œresistance from the public and political parties to the fuel plan'€. Yudhoyono then called on politicians not to politicize the fuel issue.

'€œInstead, we are calling on him [Yudhoyono] to rule in his political interest,'€ Hidayat added.

State Secretary Sudi Silalahi reaffirmed Yudhoyono'€™s statement that no decision had been made on the fate of the PKS in the coalition.

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