Jakarta – Political analysts expressed concern Thursday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's aim to ensure that his next presidential term runs more smoothly by embracing both coalition partners and the oppositions could endanger democracy.
"The president's moves are highly influenced by the Javanese political culture. In Javanese culture, the ruler tends to bring everyone together," a political expert from the University of Indonesia, Boni Hargens, said at the House of Representatives in Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday.
"The president interprets that the essence of democracy is having everyone together in harmony to achieve a collective goal," he added. "However, in democracy, having differences and conflicts is not forbidden. Instead, those elements should be included in a healthy democracy."
As of now, Yudhoyono's bloc consists of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PKB), and the United Development Party (PPP). All of those parties are Islamic-based parties, which have a relatively different political stance from Yudhoyono's nationalist Democratic Party.
Following the victory in the July 8 presidential election, the incumbent Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party have also been moving around the country's political landscape to expand their coalition size.
For example, several noted Democratic Party executives said that the party would endorse the candidacy of Taufik Kiemas, the chief patron of the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), to become the next People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker.
Taufik is the husband of PDI-P Chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who stands on different ground than Yudhoyono and has set up her party as the opposition bloc in the House of Representatives in the last five years.
A recent unofficial cabinet list also contained the name of Prabowo Subianto, the chief patron of the Greater Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), to be named as the next Agriculture Minister.
Prabowo was Megawati's running mate during the election and had openly criticized Yudhoyono as a "neo-liberalist agent" many times during their campaign rallies.
Boni said that he would be very upset and disappointed should both Gerindra and the PDI-P give up their idealism in exchange for high places in the new government.
"For the sake of democracy, I hope both the PDI-P and Gerindra will not be lured by cabinet seats and power-sharing offers from the Democratic Party," he said.
Despite the worries coming from experts that Yudhoyono's aim to achieve an effective presidential term could translate into an authoritarian regime, Charta Politika Executive Director Bima Arya Sugiarto said that it was hard to predict the president's real purpose.
"It is difficult because SBY thinks in the context of long-term benefits, not short-term," he said. (hdt)