Jakarta – Apparent displays of disloyalty toward President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by a number of parties in his coalition recently are simply a political ploy to increase bargaining power in the cabinet, experts said Wednesday.
Out of the four Islamic-based parties allied with SBY's Democratic Party (PD) – the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP) – only PKS joined PD in rejecting calls for an inquiry into the legislative elections during a plenary session at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
Chair of the PD at the House, Syarif Hasan, said following the session he was very disappointed with the conduct of the other coalition parties.
Following the successful vote for an inquiry, the House can now scrutinize the government over the April 9 legislative elections, particularly regarding the 40 million voters who were unable to cast their ballot due to the severe mismanagement of the electoral roll.
"That issue (of going against PD) is all in the interest of bargaining power for future cabinet seat allocations," an expert from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Ari Sujito, told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Wednesday.
"I am sure this issue will not develop any further. The coalition will deal with it through negotiations with all the stakeholders," he said.
Leaders from 23 political parties, including PAN, PKB and PPP, signed a political contract on May 9 to support Yudhoyono's re-election.
A political analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said there was another factor besides power that drove the parties to take individual stances.
"Other than power sharing, the parties are also pushing PD to provide them with more money. They will use the excuse of 'mobilizing machinery' for campaigning to get the expected funds," he said.
The PD coalition was established to support the presidential ambitions of Yudhoyono (SBY) and his running mate, former Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, in the July 8 election.
However, chair of PKB at the House, Effendi Choirie, said there was no political motive behind the parties' decision to disagree with the PD on the issue of inquiry.
"The ability to vote independently is the most basic right of any democratic system. It is very important for us, as the people's representatives, to get to the bottom of the matter," he said.
PPP Deputy Secretary General Muhammad Romahurmuziy told the Post that the disappointment expressed by PD following the plenary sessions suggested the incumbent party did not truly understand the reason behind the move.
"The inquiry aims to fully investigate the confusion with the voter list. We did not mean to discredit anyone, and this has nothing to do with the current coalition."
"The inquiry allows us to conduct an inter-institutional investigation into the havoc caused by problems with the electoral roll, and to improve the overall demographic administration system," he said.
The drama behind the support for an inquiry highlights the weaknesses in PD's newly formed coalition, observers have said.
The coalition almost fell to its knees when SBY choose Boediono as his running mate instead of a political representative from one of the allied parties. Following a direct meeting between SBY and representatives from PKS, things however seemed back to normal.
But within a matter of days, PKS deputy chairman Zulkieflimansyah said that despite the party elite being behind SBY all the way, voters were more likely to cast ballots for the Golkar Party's Jusuf Kalla and running mate Wiranto because their wives appeared more "Islamic".