Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Sat, May 26, 2012
Archive Search

PKS to Sign New Coalition Deal
Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Arientha Primanita | April 18, 2011

Share This Page
0
2
0
0
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Be the first to write your opinion!

Indonesia's Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party is likely to accept the terms of a new agreement that will oblige it to support the ruling coalition on all issues, an official said on Sunday.

The faction, also known as PKS, will be the last of the six-party coalition to sign the contract, which is meant to strengthen the bloc by obliging parties to toe the government line or risk being kicked out of the alliance.

The deal was drafted after some parties broke ranks over key issues, including an attempt by the House of Representatives to hold an inquiry into alleged corruption at the tax office.

Mustafa Kemal, a senior PKS official, said the party’s leadership board discussed the contract last week and had no strong objections to it.

“We can accept the new terms that require us to enhance communication with the other coalition members,” he said.

Mustafa said the new agreement was not significantly different from the coalition agreement signed by the parties in 2009.

“The contract offered is just an addendum to the previous contract, with [the new one] emphasizing a shared code of ethics between the parties,” he said.

Mustafa also said the new contract did not mention new appointments, which he said meant that the PKS would retain four seats on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet.

It was previously believed that the party would lose cabinet positions after it supported the tax inquiry, which Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party strongly opposed.

The five other coalition partners – the Democrats, Golkar Party, National Mandate Party (PAN), United Development Party (PPP) and National Awakening Party (PKB) — have all signed the new agreement.

Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, whose party backed the tax probe but was considered safe from censure because of its size and influence, welcomed the PKS’s reaction to the deal.

Aburizal said the full support of parties was needed because the coalition needed to be “solid for the country’s sake.”

Elsewhere, senior PPP official Ahmad Muqowam on Sunday became the first person to officially announce his bid for party chairman ahead of the caucus in June.

“I have been permitted to run as a candidate by senior party founders, including K.H. Maemun Zubaer,” Ahmad said.

“They hope I can help the PPP return to its former glory.”

The incumbent chairman, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, is widely expected to run for a second term, while former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Muchdi Purwoprandjono is also expected to throw his hat into the ring for the chairmanship.