Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is having a tough time fulfilling his electoral promises. He's facing a deadlock in the Parliament which is stopping him from implementing promised reforms. The next few weeks and months will be a key test for the president as he comes under increasing pressure from power-hungry factions. But many are worried SBY's tendency to bend with the wind doesn't bode well for the future.
Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor
Speakers: Wimar Witoelar, former Indonesian presidential spokesman, journalist and commentator
MacGregor: After promising sweeping changes including a crackdown on corruption and economic reforms, SBY is finding he has no room to move, caught between deep divisions in the Parliament, the DPR.
On one side of the house is the opposition camp, the Nationhood Coalition, made up of supporters of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, with the SBY camp, the People's Coalition, on the other side.
But the battle lines are drawn not just between these two factions. Wimar Witoelar a former presidential spokesman, journalist and commentator explains there's also a generational struggle going on.
Witoelar: I think the real reason for the division in the Parliament is the juxtaposition of the old guard on the one hand, the Golkar PDI-P who do not want to let go of their grip on Parliament and the new people who basically are good, honest people but who don't have a clue how to conduct themselves in a legislative atmosphere and they are positioning themselves in favour of SBY but actually they're not helping him do much either as we can see in the forming of the last cabinet where SBY's hand was pushed by pressure from these new groups who are quite idealistic and in a way, very naive.
MacGregor: The main battle centres around the issue of the election of the heads of the important parliamentary commissions. Opposition MPS, who are in the majority, have pushed to elect their own leaders, as a way of undermining the SBY camp. And last week, the members of the defence commission caused more grief for the president, by ratifying outgoing president Megawati's last-minute choice for the new chief of the armed forces, General Ryamizard Ryacudu. This time, SBY showed he does have what it takes to assert control. Wimar Witoelar again.
Witoelar: One of the reasons for people bothering SBY is that he himself does not show the strength that he possesses. It is not a Parliamentary government so the president has certain prerogatives, and many of those are not being used by the president. Maybe one other thing SBY should learn in the future is to use better public relations and not allow the spin over an issue to dominate the actual intrinsic value of the issue.
MacGregor: But from what you're saying SBY now has a choice between fighting over every major bill or adopting a compromise approach towards the opposition. Which do you think he's likely to take?
Witoelar: He is likely to take a compromise position which is unfortunate. But the thing is SBY always bends to the wind, so we are going to have this compromise in any case, whether or not the Parliament is that troublesome or not.
MacGregor: And in taking that compromise approach, what areas are we likely to see suffering, what areas of reform is that approach likely to jeopardise.
Witoelar: Probably economic reform which is related to the fight for corruption because it's very complex and you need to be very assertive very simple to go through that thicket and of course corruption is very much the lifeblood of the old politicians Golkar and the PDI-P. That would be quite dangerous to be weakened by Parliamentary opposition.
The other area would be not reform but a continuation of pluralism and a moderate approach to religious issues, because SBY bends too easily to the harder elements of the political communities using Islamic symbols. Not the extreme types from which terrorism is bred but just counterproductive more ideological types of Muslim politicians.