NasDem chairman Surya Paloh instructed his rank and file to remain loyal to the government’s agenda this week, following reports that he recently spoke with a close ally of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in a meeting overseas amid a perceived falling out between the two leaders.

The NasDem patron himself gave the order, one senior party executive said, after convening lawmakers at the party’s Central Jakarta headquarters on Monday.

“Pak Surya underscored his full support for the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin government until its term finishes and ordered all members of the NasDem [legislative faction] to do the same,” Charles Meikyansah, an member of the party’s central executive board, stated on Monday.

Tensions had reportedly risen between Surya and Jokowi, with the latter hinting several times already at another Cabinet shake-up – an idea that the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has supported.

Several members of the PDI-P elite have called on Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, both NasDem card-carrying members, to resign for failing to maintain the country’s self-sufficiency in rice, a staple food.

PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto recently defended the party’s attack on NasDem, accusing it of “acting differently” with regard to the government’s legislative priorities, after receiving reports from colleagues over its shifting stance at the House of Representatives.

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