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I attended recently a private VIP luncheon to discuss prospects for the second Yudhoyono administration. The host, a former high-ranking government official from one of Indonesia’s more important trading partners, wanted to know what we thought about the country joining the G-20 club and being touted as the next “I” in BRIC. Was Yudhoyono’s Indonesia on the cusp of greatness?

“This second term is definitely going to be much better because he will have mostly technocrats in his cabinet,” one quipped.

Another pundit waxed eloquent about the fact that the president’s men will be required to sign contracts, holding them accountable for their ability to perform.

The room now abuzz with thoughts of a new beginning before us, an economist charged into the discussions to mention in excited tones that the president had assigned an adviser to develop a 100-Day Plan. “The president not only wants results, he wants results now!”

Finally, we opined over Yudhoyono’s wanting to have all of his ministers sign an ethics pact before joining the new cabinet. Apparently, Yudhoyono is also going to the party bosses inside his coalition and presenting them with a code of conduct. Good behavior will be strictly enforced this time around, at least we are led to believe.

That was over the appetizer. When the main course was being served, we dived into the intricacies of how this might all work out. Finally, one participant woke up from the reverie, and mentioned the “I” word. Not as in BRIC, but as in Implementation. “How,” he interjected, “are they going to manage to implement all these policies?” Indeed, a very pertinent question, if not sobering.

It all sounds great, but let’s get real: Before Yudhoyono and his band of technocrats allow themselves to get carried away with micromanaging and planning what they want to accomplish over the next five years, before they try to control how parties vote and prohibit their members from self-dealing, the palace should conduct a serious reality check.

First, how will Yudhoyono’s grand coalition perform inside the House of Representatives?

Ostensibly, Yudhoyono thinks he can order them to march in lockstep to the beat of his policy drum. As a former general, Yudhoyono spent most of his professional life accustomed to troops following his dictates in a disciplined fashion. After his trying his hand at being president, however, I would like to think Yudhoyono realizes by now that soldiers and politicians are a very different species.

Inexplicably, even savvy Indonesian political analysts are making much hay out of the Yudhoyono coalition, thinking that this latest configuration of parties will translate into a subservient legislature.

Democracy activists have also joined the bandwagon of believers in the power of coalitions, only in this case they are talking about how it could result in a comeback for authoritarianism.

Some review of the history of coalitions in previous administrations would, however, lead these starry-eyed optimists and doomsayers to rethink their underlying assumptions. Most obvious, bills presented by the president’s office and his ministers to the House will not be passed simply because a majority coalition is in place. Suharto is dead, and democracy is in. If running a democratic state were so simple, Barack Obama would already have won his battle for health care reform. As former US Vice President Dick Cheney once famously said, stuff happens.

Not that we should belittle Yudhoyono and his inner circle for trying to lay down the foundation for a more orderly and effective administration. It is a laudable effort. But there is a problem when you place a bunch of technocrats inside a room: They are driven by ideas. To many men and women of intellect, cutting deals and compromising on policy positions in which they passionately believe is often viewed with disdain. So here’s the catch: Unless Yudhoyono and his men work hard at building close relationships with the movers and shakers inside the House, unless they are willing to get on the phone, invite commission heads over to the palace for a cup of tea, do some horse-trading and discuss how they can secure votes for the president on the House floor, the value of Yudhoyono’s coalition will quickly become naught.

Some of my friends are saying Yudhoyono doesn’t really need the House to rule and push ahead with reforms and realize his policy agenda. To a certain extent, this is true. Laws passed by the House are notorious for being vague and lacking details, and ministerial decrees on how those laws will be implemented count for much.

Again, we need to be careful of being overly optimistic. There is a huge gap between theory and practice when it comes to the power of being a minister. I know plenty of ministers who walked into their jobs and thought running their bureaucracies would be as simple as telling their top deputies what they wanted done. Or so they wished. Much to their horror, these men and women often found their staffers had policy agendas contrary to their own and, more often than not, deft at finding ways of making the minister’s life at the office a difficult and sometimes miserable experience. And because of complicated procedures that are seemingly rigged to protect senior bureaucrats from being fired, even the most strong-willed of ministers find themselves stuck with wily intransigents in their midst.

If I had to be optimistic about anything, it would be the chances of Indonesia ending up with a more honest and intelligent cabinet. Many of the people being considered for ministerial posts have sterling reputations, and even if we end up with only half of them being tipped to join the new administration, corruption and incompetence will be less of a problem during Yudhoyono’s second term in office. Even if the cabinet finds the going tough and they don’t finish all of the business they hoped for, at least Indonesians can take solace in the fact that, for once in their lives, the good guys were in the majority and fighting alongside the president for some noble causes.