Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said on Friday that if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided to remove one of the party's representatives from the Cabinet, it would be Agriculture Minister Suswono.
The Islamic party risks losing its last foothold in the Cabinet – Suswono, Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring and Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri – after opposing the reduction of the fuel subsidy.
A member of the PKS religious council, Idris Lutfi, said that the party was ready for its representatives to be fired by the President. "If our ministerial seats are reduced, most likely it will be the agriculture minister [Suswono] as he is implicated in a graft case," the lawmaker told reporters at the House of Representatives.
Suswono is one of several PKS politicians tarnished by the beefgate scandal. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has charged former PKS chairman Luthfi Hassan Ishaaq for his part in the case.
Despite its pertinacity, the PKS refuses to leave the coalition, saying the decision rests with the President. Yudhoyono has yet to make public any decision on the fate of the PKS, while members of his Democratic Party have grown impatient with the PKS and asked it jump before it is pushed.
On Friday, Idris lashed out at the Democrats, accusing them of trying to take over the party's ministerial seats. "The Democratic Party keeps pushing us to leave the coalition so they can have our ministerial seats," Idris said.
He also dismissed the Democratic Party's suggestion that the ministers from the PKS leave their party and join them instead. "They do that to divide and conquer. They are good at it," he said.
Previously, Democratic Party central executive board chief Sutan Bhatoegana said that his party opened the door to the PKS ministers should they want to change sides.
Sutan retaliated on Friday by saying that PKS should understand the consequences of their mulishness, and suggested that they stop making threats they could not carry out. "The should stop fussing over their own behavior," Sutan told The Jakarta Post over the phone.
The undignified bickering continued with both sides refusing to back down.
Political observer Gun Gun Heryanto of Paramadina University said both sides would keep buying time until the government eventually raised the fuel price, a decision that would prove politically costly ahead of the general elections next year.
He added that PKS move was clever, believing it could mend its image, which was badly tarnished by the beef import scandal.
"PKS will not dare to quit the coalition as they want to be seen as victims in this case to gather public sympathy and Yudhoyono will not kick the PKS out as it could cause a political imbalance," he said.
PKS senior politician and leader of party faction at the House of Representatives Hidayat Nur Wahid has rejected criticism that his party was using the incident to improve its image, saying that they only repeated their stance of last year which also rejected the fuel price plan.
If a decision has to be made, Gun Gun said, the PKS would probably stay in the coalition but they might have fewer ministers as the cost will be too much for both sides. "It is possible that the 2011 situation that reduced PKS ministers will happen again," he said.
In a major Cabinet reshuffle in 2011, the President reduced the number of ministers from the PKS from four to three, dismissing senior PKS member Suharna Surapranata from his post as research and technology minister, a move seen by many as a punishment for PKS repeated "rebellious acts".