Camelia Pasandaran – A nationwide survey released on Sunday by the Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information showed that nearly 90 percent of respondents wanted the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle to form an opposition bloc in the House of Representatives.

"Most of the respondents said that it was necessary to have an opposition voice to the [executive] government," said Ahmad Faisol, research program coordinator at the institute, also known as the ISAI. "They also want the opposition to establish an effective and clean government."

The ISAI conducted the telephone survey from Sept. 17 to 24 with 1,300 respondents in 25 cities. The poll had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

The survey suggested the public was concerned about speculation that Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) would join President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling Democratic Party coalition.

A source within the PDI-P claimed it had reached a deal with the Democrats that would give the PDI-P four seats in the cabinet, including seats for Puan Maharani, the daughter of party chairwoman and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, as well as a seat for party secretary general, Pramono Anung.

The survey said 55 percent of PDI-P supporters wanted the party to remain an opposition voice, while only 30 percent favored the party joining the coalition.

Meanwhile, 54 percent of Golkar supporters said they wanted the party to provide opposition to the Democratic coalition.

Political activist Fadjroel Rachman said there would be no democracy without an effective opposition bloc.

"Democracy will be in grave danger," he said. "There will be no checks and balances for the parliament or the government." Ahmad said that with no opposition, the country would revert to the same situation seen during the New Order era.

"There will be no more discussion in the House to pass a bill," he said. "The government will also face no challenge because all will agree with its policies. People may simply define opposition as a voice against the current government, but it's not that simple. What the PDI-P did in the previous government was not what we could describe as opposition, because the party was unable to come up with policy ideas that were different from those of the government."

If PDI-P and Golkar decide to become opposition voices, they will need to propose alternative policies, he said. However, "being in the opposition doesn't mean being confrontational," Fadjroel said.

"In a true parliamentary system, an opposition party has its own programs, as well as a shadow cabinet. This way, they can offer alternative programs to the public."

An opposition party's shadow cabinet can also help to observe and criticize government policies, he said. "If a shadow cabinet is structured properly, it becomes clear who is watching over the government," he said.