Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) will not ask for any posts in the next Cabinet, but will accept any position that might be offered, chief patron Taufik Kiemas said Friday.
Taufik, recently appointed as the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker, said he was optimistic President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would ask someone senior from the PDI-P to assist in his second Cabinet term in 2009-2014.
"PDI-P is waiting for the President; (to see) who he might ask. If it is for the sake of the nation, PDI-P would give its top people," Taufik said after a meeting with Yudhoyono at the Presidential Office.
"That is his call; PDI-P would not ask, would not make bargains, but we will send our people if asked." Taufik added that the PDI-P was ready to send however many of its senior people the President would ask for, and that he had set up communications on this with him.
"Insya Allah (God willing), he (Yudhoyono) would ask (for ministerial candidates from us)," he said, expressing his confidence.
Taufik denied that the PDI-P's move toward the Democratic Party, more evident since his appointment as MPR speaker with the latter's support, had caused a rift in his relationship with his wife and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairman of the PDI-P and long-time political rival of Yudhoyono.
He said the partnership between his party and the Democrats which had led to his position as speaker was with her prior approval.
Megawati would attend the inauguration of Yudhoyono and his running mate Boediono as the President and Vice President for the 2009-2014 period on Tuesday at the MPR compound, Taufik added.
"It is more comfortable to live in harmony," he said, responding to journalists' queries over his party's political inclination, which is now more towards joining the ruling coalition in government rather than maintaining an opposition stance.
Yudhoyono had said two days earlier that with no one from the PDI-P contacting him regarding the coalition, it looked like the 'partnership' between the PDI-P and the Democrats would go no further than the appointment of Taufik as MPR speaker, which also saw the Democratic Party's Melani Leimena Suharli appointed as one of the Assembly's deputy speakers.
Taufik's statement reopens the possibility the PDI-P may join the government coalition, which already covers Golkar and four original coalition members: with the Democrats (the Prosperous Justice Party, the National Mandate Party, the United Development Party and the National Awakening Party).
If the grand coalition comes about, Yudhoyono's party, along with its coalition partners, would dominate over 90 percent of seats in the House of Representatives.
Taufik, along with his four deputies at the MPR, met with the President to arrange the invitation letters for the latter's inauguration, Tuesday.
Political observer Lili Romli from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences warned that a grand coalition would make the House a mere rubber stamp for government policies.
"On the other hand, lawmakers from the coalition parties might resist government policies after two years just to show to their constituents that they can be critical of the government," he said Thursday. "Both are possible bad outcomes from a grand coalition." (hdt)