T

he Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led Great Indonesia Coalition struck a conciliatory note on Thursday after a month-long political standoff at the House of Representatives that culminated in the coalition establishing its own House leadership.

A spokesman for the Great Indonesian Coalition in the House, lawmaker Ahmad Basarah, called on House members to start carrying out efforts to cool tensions, the way President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo reached out to his former rival in the July presidential election, Prabowo Subianto.

Basarah also said that the two political camps at the House should also end their standoff as leaders of their political parties had also agreed to move on after a bitterly contested presidential poll.

'€œLeaders of political parties within the KMP [the Red-and-White Coalition'€™s initials], such as Pak Prabowo, Pak Hatta [Rajasa] and Pak Aburizal showed examples of true statesmanship. House leaders and all faction leaders should follow their examples,'€ Basarah told a press briefing on Thursday.

Basarah said that the PDI-P-led coalition was ready to carry out reconciliation efforts.

'€œWe would like to conduct amiable talks with our colleagues [from the Red-and-White Coalition] to break this deadlock,'€ said Basarah, who is also PDI-P'€™s deputy secretary-general.

On Wednesday, responding to what has been referred to as the '€œauthoritarian'€ speakership of the House, the Great Indonesia Coalition announced a separate House leadership, with senior PDI-P politician Pramono Anung Wibowo appointed as speaker and the National Awakening Party'€™s (PKB) Abdul Kadir Karding, the United Development Party'€™s (PPP) Syaifullah Tamliha, the NasDem Party'€™s Patrice Rio Capella and the Hanura Party'€™s Dossy Iskandar Prasetyo serving as deputy speakers. The coalition will also establish its own internal bodies.

Pramono has distanced himself from the splintered House leadership.

'€œThe original way is always better. We need to maintain a good conscience amid high political tensions,'€ Pramono said in a statement made via his Twitter account, @pramonoanung.

The Great Indonesia Coalition had been calling for a consensus mechanism in the selection of all leadership positions for House internal bodies instead of a package system, which requires each faction to nominate four candidates from different factions, as mandated by an internal House regulation.

As a minority, the Great Indonesia Coalition has lost to the Red-and-White Coalition in the selection of internal bodies'€™ leadership as the latter controls 313 of the total 560 seats in the House.

Contacted separately, Golkar Party lawmaker Tantowi Yahya, who is also a spokesperson for the Red-and-White Coalition, welcomed the call for reconciliation.

'€œWe support all efforts to find a win-win solution that will also ensure the stability of the legislative institution. We are open to talks in the future and we hope that each of us will no longer fight solely for our own interests,'€ Tantowi said.

Meanwhile, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto blasted the move to set up a rival leadership in the House, calling it illegal.

'€œI believe that the move is immature. There'€™s no such thing as a rival House of Representatives,'€ he told reporters on the sidelines of the Suryadharma Ali-initiated PPP muktamar (national congress) in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

Prabowo also defended his coalition'€™s move to control leadership of the House, saying that it should not be seen as an attack on the President Jokowi government.

'€œAs you all know, I, as well as other leaders of the Red-and-White Coalition actually congratulated the new government. We support the government and urge it to work hard,'€ Prabowo said.

The defeated July 9 presidential election candidate said that the domination of the House by his coalition could actually strengthen the legislative body.

'€œA strong legislative body will benefit the people. There will be checks and balances. So we should think positive. We don'€™t want a zero-sum game,'€ said Prabowo.