Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Muhamad Al Azhari, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Camelia Pasandaran – In a day of hectic political maneuvering, Golkar executives announced on Wednesday that the party would cease coalition talks with the Democratic Party, a move the Democrats called unilateral and other Golkar leaders said was far from final.
"The Golkar executives' regular meeting declares that there was no deal in the coalition talks with the Democratic Party and that Golkar Party gives a full mandate for the chairman to open political communications with [other] political parties for a strong and effective government," Golkar secretary general Soemarsono said.
The comment came ahead of today's special national leaders meeting at which Golkar is to officially ratify any decision on a coalition. The party could choose to nominate its own candidate for president, form a coalition with another party or return to the bargaining table with the Democrats.
The comment caused political tremors early in the day and seemed to open the possibility of a major challenge to Yudhoyono in the form of a coalition between Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.
But other Golkar leaders said they were still open to a coalition with the Democrats, exposing a deep political divide within the party.
The Golkar executive meeting was led by party chairman and Vice President Jusuf Kalla and was attended by top executives such as Burhanuddin Napitupulu, Syamsul Muarif and Agung Laksono.
Syamsul said the decision was taken because the Democratic Party demanded that Golkar name more than one potential vice presidential candidate for Yudhoyono to choose from. "We could not fulfill their demand."
That demand is widely seen as an indication the sometimes shaky five-year political marriage between Yudhoyono and Kalla is finally on the rocks. The announcement, however, was countered by other Golkar senior members.
"The door remains open for the Democratic Party, or other parties," Agung said, adding that the legitimate party decision is to be issued at today's national leadership meeting.
"This is politics. Changes could happen every minute, every hour, every day. Who knows? There could be another sign from Cikeas," deputy party chairman Priyo said, referring to Yudhoyono's private residential area.
After attending the Golkar meeting on Wednesday morning, Kalla skipped a scheduled limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace at 2 p.m.
Siswono Yudhohusono, another Golkar executive, said the party leadership had to explain the coalition decision to provincial leaders. Meanwhile, Several Golkar sources said that Yudhoyono has already told Kalla that he may not pick him as his vice presidential candidate.
For his part, Yudhoyono responded by asking top Democratic Party executives to attend a meeting in Cikeas, Bogor. But instead of presiding over a scheduled press conference, Yudhoyono gave that task to deputy chairman Anas Urbaningrum under the argument that Golkar's announcement was made by its secretary general.
Reading from a written statement, Anas said the Golkar decision was a unilateral move. "The Democratic Party did not expect Golkar to announce that the coalition talks deadlocked," he said.
Anas said that both the Democratic Party and Golkar have already agreed to form a coalition to support the government for the next five years. "On Tuesday, Golkar proposed a draft coalition agreement.
"We agreed on all items except the presidential and vice presidential candidates. We have yet to agree on whether Golkar would propose one or several names," he said.
"It's not true that the Democratic Party has been dictating to Golkar arbitrarily during this coalition process," Anas asserted, saying that his party respects Golkar's decision.