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NasDem at odds with Jokowi, PDI-P following Cabinet hint

The NasDem Party, a member of the political coalition supporting President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, has cast doubt on its willingness to happily accept the composition of the next Cabinet indicated by Jokowi a few days ago

Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post)
Thu, August 22, 2019

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NasDem at odds with Jokowi, PDI-P following Cabinet hint

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span>The NasDem Party, a member of the political coalition supporting President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, has cast doubt on its willingness to happily accept the composition of the next Cabinet indicated by Jokowi a few days ago.

Jokowi revealed on Wednesday that 55 percent of the members of his upcoming Cabinet would be nonpolitician professionals while the remainder would be from political parties. He also said the post of attorney general, which is currently held NasDem-affiliated Muhammad Prasetyo, would be filled with a professional rather than a party appointee.

This suggests that Prasetyo would be removed from his post within the next few months.

NasDem chairman Surya Paloh on Friday said it was fine if the party did not get the attorney general position in Jokowi’s second term. However, he said he was not sure that excluding political parties from the position would make law enforcement better.

Surya said choosing anyone for a position in the government should not be based on whether they were political party members or not.

“We have no problem [with the composition], but don’t get caught up in a narrow dichotomy. The term professional is universal. There are political party professionals, scholars, religious leaders, entrepreneurs,” Surya said.

Surya said he had met Jokowi in Singapore after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) recent congress in Bali. However, he refused to reveal what was discussed at the meeting.

He added that he did not know how many seats the NasDem Party would get or the names of party cadres that Jokowi would pick, contrary to Jokowi’s claim that he had talked with the coalition party leaders about the candidates to join the Cabinet.

“We haven’t [talked about the Cabinet]. The President wasn’t willing to discuss the Cabinet with me yet,” he said, adding that he thought NasDem might be the last coalition member to be notified.

“We will provide [our party cadres] if he asks, but to be honest, if he doesn’t ask for it, then what are we [in the coalition] for?”

NasDem also seems to be at odds with the PDI-P, with some speculating this was triggered by a meeting on July 24 between PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and Gerindra Party leader Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi’s challenger in the 2019 presidential election. The two leaders agreed to bury the hatchet and form a legislative partnership.

Two days before the Megawati-Prabowo meeting, the leaders of four coalition parties had held a meeting at NasDem headquarters, without any PDI-P representative present, in which the leaders announced their objection to new members entering the coalition.

On the day of the Megawati-Prabowo meeting, Surya met Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who had defeated former Jakarta governor Basuki “BTP” Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok, a close ally of Jokowi’s, in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election.

Both of the parties refuted any speculation related to this meeting, saying the government coalition remained solid.

Tensions between Surya and Megawati also appeared at the PDI-P congress, where Megawati asked Jokowi during her speech that the party must get the most seats in the Cabinet. The participants burst into laughter at Ibu Mega’s blunt demand, but Surya kept a straight face.

Surya said recently that it was “unethical” for NasDem to offer names to the President.

“NasDem puts its full trust in Jokowi [...]. We have agreed to support him unconditionally,” he said.

Regarding the possibility of Gerindra joining the ruling coalition, Surya said the parties still needed to discuss the matter further. NasDem secretary-general Johnny G Plate, however, was confident that the odds of this happening were slim.

PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto asserted that the relationship between the two parties was fine.

“There are people who are trying to frame us, [insinuating] that the coalition is not solid anymore,” he said.

Hasto added that the secretaries-general of the coalition parties would work closely together ahead of the new Cabinet announcement.

Unlike NasDem, which was still waiting for Jokowi’s request, the PDI-P had discussed the names of candidates “in Megawati’s pocket”.

“Various dialogues have been held, but we still need to finalize things,” he said.

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