A

mid the waning of the opposition camp in the House of Representatives, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) claims that it will remain with the group, the Red-and-White Coalition, and has refused to become a government ally.

PKS secretary-general Taufik Ridho said that, despite the weakening Red-and-White Coalition, the party had not changed its political stance as such a decision could only be made during a majelis syuro (religious council) meeting, which are held every six months.

'€œA majelis syuro decision made six months ago maintained the current stance and we have not talked about [leaving the coalition] as of today, but we are closely monitoring the current situation and condition in the field,'€ he said on Monday night.

'€œAny big decision that would have a significant impact on the party in general should be made through the majelis syuro and so far the council has yet to alter the party'€™s political stance,'€ Taufik said.

He added that the PKS would thus stick to its commitment to the Red-and-White Coalition, which suffered a major blow recently after one of its members, the National Mandate Party (PAN), declared allegiance to the government.

The announcement left the coalition with only the Gerindra Party and the PKS. The Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) have been weakened by dual leadership issues for months.

PAN took its new political stance after its congress elected new chairman Zulfiki Hasan, who is also People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker.

On Monday, the PKS inaugurated a new central executive board committee for the 2015-2019 period during a national congress held in Depok, West Java, under the leadership of M. Sohibul Iman, who was appointed as chairman during a majelis syuro meeting on Aug. 10.

'€œToday'€™s national meeting is only to inaugurate the new leadership structure of the PKS and to disseminate information on the result of previous majelis syuro meetings to PKS members,'€ Taufik said, adding that the new leadership had yet to consider whether it would review its faction members at the House.

The new PKS board line-up also maintained Taufik as secretary-general and Mahfudz Abdurrahman as chief treasurer, while former social affairs minister Salim Segaf Al-jufri was chosen as the party'€™s chief patron, replacing Hilmi Aminuddin, dubbed the party'€™s '€œgodfather'€.

The party appointed Suharna as chief of its consultative board and Surahman Hidayat as chief of the party'€™s sharia council '€” a kind of disciplinary tribunal.

In his opening speech, Sohibul called on all PKS members to unite to support the party'€™s long-standing stance as a dakwah (propagation) party, adding that the PKS would aim to reach 10 percent of the vote in the 2019 legislative election.

'€œA dakwah party is nothing without strong cadres. With strong support from the party, it is normal if we set a target to become a top player in the 2019 election by acquiring more than 10 percent of votes,'€ he said.

In 2014, the PKS garnered 7 percent of votes, while in the 2009 legislative election the Islamic-based political party secure slightly less of the vote at 6.79 percent.

Political observer Effendi Gazali said that the PKS had maintained its oppositional stance as it was difficult for it to establish cooperation with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the leader of the pro-government group of political parties.

Effendi added that the PKS was currently facing big problems to restore the confidence of its education-based voters like university students after being hit hard by corruption scandals in the past five years.