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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has yet to make a decision regarding the fate of the 'rebellious' Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Once again, the PKS sided with the opposition and opposed the government's subsidized fuel plan, irking politicians from Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the four other coalition parties.

'The coalition has ethics and every member party is bound by the code of conduct,' presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said when asked if Yudhoyono would punish the PKS on Wednesday.

Julian was referring to an eight-point agreement signed by leaders of all six parties in the coalition April last year.

At that time, Yudhoyono summoned leaders of all six parties to his residence in Cikeas, West Java, after a plenary session at the House of Representatives rejected an article in the revised 2012 State Budget Law, which would allow the government to change the price of subsidized fuel.

It was another blow to the ruling coalition following a series of moves against the government.

The Cikeas meeting resulted in the signing of the agreement, which clearly states that all members of the governing coalition must support the government's policies, or leave the coalition.

The agreement was seen by many as a move by Yudhoyono to 'discipline' the PKS after previous 'punishment' ' reducing the number of ministers from the PKS from four to three ' had failed to make any impression.

Democratic Party executives said the PKS should not have double standards and urged the party to formally leave the coalition. The PKS insisted its decision was not a form of rebellion.

'The President has always stressed that [increasing the subsidized fuel price] is neither political nor for the interest of the government. It is purely for the sake of the people,' Julian said.

PKS members were absent from a meeting at the residence of Vice President Boediono in Central
Jakarta on Tuesday evening to discuss the expected political showdown concerning the planed fuel policy.

After the meeting, Democratic Party deputy chair Nurhayati Assegaf said the PKS' absence was a clear indication that the party 'no longer had respect for the coalition.'

PKS chairman Anis Matta claimed he had never received an invitation to the meeting.

Also on Tuesday, former PKS chairman Tifatul Sembiring revealed his party had been split over its stance to the government's planned fuel policy.

Tifatul, who is also the Communication and Information Technology Minister in Yudhoyono's cabinet, claimed the party's chief patron, Hilmi Aminuddin, had told the President that the party agreed with the government's decision to increase the price of subsidized fuel.

'[Hilmi] met with President Yu-dhoyono to clarify this issue,' said Tifatul, who is currently a member of the PKS' board of patrons.

When asked to comment on the matter, PKS board of patron member Refrizal shrugged off Tifatul's statement saying,

'All ministers from the PKS are the President's men,' he said.

Political analyst Tjipta Lesmana of the University of Indonesia said the PKS might have been reluctant to leave the coalition and would wait for Yudhoyono to show them the door.

'Many have said that the PKS could gain sympathy from the public if the President dismissed it from the coalition and kicked its ministers out of the Cabinet. I think the party could get more popularity if it was willing to take concrete action to leave the coalition and withdraw all of its ministers,' he said.