Democratic politicians irritated by PKS threats after reshuffle

Threats of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) executives leaving the government coalition following the dismissal of one of their ministers have begun to irk President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party politicians.

Politicians from the Islamic party have voiced disappointment over the President’s decision to reduce the number of PKS ministers while the other four allied parties retained the number of their representatives in the Cabinet.

The PKS now has only three ministers after Yudhoyono kicked out former research and technology minister Suharna Surapranata.

Angered by the President’s move, PKS members have accused Yudhoyono of having violated political contracts he made with PKS president Lutfi Hasan Ishaq. The PKS claimed that the contract guaranteed that PKS would retain at least four representatives in the Cabinet.

“Which contract are they talking about? Political contracts between the President and chairmen of all coalition parties have been revised since March. The revisions have the same points: commitment to partnership both in the government and the parliament,” Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Ramadhan Pohan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

“If they want to leave the Coalition, we won’t stop them. The Democratic Party is ready for any possible political act taken by the PKS,” he added.

Democrat senior lawmaker Mohammad Jafar Hafsah said the PKS only had two options.

“Stay in the coalition or leave ... There is no ‘middle’ option. Yes or no. Simple,” he told reporters.

PKS lawmaker Aboe Bakar said the Cabinet reshuffle had triggered numerous reactions from within his party.

“Our board of patrons will begin discussing our next political stance soon. All options are still open, including leaving the coalition and joining the opposition,” he said, also on Thursday.

Aboe Bakar said Suharna’s replacement had something to do with the recent “strong” statements by PKS secretary-general Anis Matta criticizing Yudhoyono and warning the President not to fire any of the four PKS members in the Cabinet.

Another PKS legislator, Nasir Djamil, said that Yudhoyono had been “inconsistent with his political commitment”.

“It is indeed his prerogative to reshuffle his aides but there is also an ethical guideline he needs to obey,” Nasir said.

Democrat’s Ramadhan denied Yudhoyono had taken Anis’ statements into account but said that the PKS lawmaker might indeed have insulted the President.

“The PKS secretary-general was out of line. His statements went too far … thank God, Pak Yudhoyono is a very patient person. However, we Democrats feel that the statements were unacceptable and we do not want our chief patron, who is the President, treated like that,” he said.

University of Indonesia political expert Arbi Sanit said the PKS would not dare to leave the coalition.

“They can benefit from their presence in the Cabinet … for example in raising funds ahead of the 2014 elections,” he said.

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