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ollowing president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s plan to give the United Development Party (PPP) a seat in his Cabinet, a tug-of-war has started between the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led coalition and the Red-and-White Coalition over which side the Islamic-based party should join.

PPP Deputy-Secretary-General Syaifullah Tamliha confirmed on Saturday that Jokowi had potentially offered at least one ministerial post to the PPP as a reward for joining the PDI-P-led coalition.

'€œThe discussions are still ongoing. I was told by the party'€™s court chairman [Chozin Chumaidy] that last night Pak Suryadharma Ali [PPP chairman] had met Pak Jokowi. I myself had also met with Pak Jusuf Kalla,'€ Tamliha said on Saturday.

Tamliha added that Jokowi also offered a number of ambassadorships to the party'€™s politicians.

The PPP politician also claimed that PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri had attempted to contact former party chairman Suryadharma Ali to make the offer.

'€œShe tried to contact Pak Suryadharma on Tuesday,'€ he said.

Tamliha said the party had also received an offer from the Red-and-White Coalition to keep it within that group. '€œThey offered us several leadership posts in the House of Representatives'€™ internal bodies,'€ he said.

Golkar Party deputy chairman Fadel Muhammad confirmed the Red-and-White Coalition was working to keep the PPP from switching sides.

'€œThe PPP is a dependable party. We will conduct intense lobbying [to keep it in the coalition],'€ Fadel said.

The senior Golkar politician also urged the PPP not to join the rival camp before Jokowi'€™s inauguration on Oct. 20. '€œIt'€™s not a good idea to make a rushed decision,'€ he said.

On Friday, House Speaker Setya Novanto of the Golkar Party said that the Red-and-White Coalition would not seek a cabinet position and that it would perform its job as a counterweight to Jokowi'€™s administration.

'€œOur coalition does not want to think about the ministerial posts. That was the decision of [the parties'€™ leaders]. We are grateful that we'€™ve been supporting the government and anyone who is appointed by the president would, of course, be well evaluated and, of course, we would support that,'€ he said.

Separately, however, Suryadharma denied meeting with Jokowi.

'€œSyaifullah Tamliha has lied to the public. I did not meet with Jokowi last night,'€ Suryadharma said.

The PPP has been split into two camps, one wanting to join the PDI-P-led coalition and the other struggling to keep the party in the Red-and-White Coalition.

On Sept. 10, a rival camp led by deputy chairman Suharso Monoarfa, dismissed Suryadharma as party chairman, appointing Emron Pangkapi as in his stead.

Suryadharma said that his ouster was illegal and dismissed 15 board members, including his successor as religious affairs minister, Lukman Hakim Saifudin.

Suryadharma is now planning to hold a national meeting in late October to be attended by his supporters.

Political analyst Maswadi Rauf of the University of Indonesia said that the PPP was more likely to jump to Jokowi'€™s side, feeling that the party would be better served by joining the government.

'€œThe majority of PPP executives did not like the decision made by Suryadharma to support [failed presidential candidate] Prabowo Subianto and they would surely join the PDI-P-led coalition because it offered better incentives,'€ Maswadi said.

Jokowi announced on Friday night that he had reduced the number of ministries in his upcoming Cabinet from his initial plan for 34 to 33, allowing him to drop one ministerial post previously pledged to a political appointee.

Under the new plan, Jokowi would have 18 ministerial posts allocated to expert appointments and would cut back to 15 the number of seats given to political appointees.(ask)