Markus Junianto Sihaloho – If there is one clear outcome of the two-month-old probe into the government's bailout of PT Bank Century so far, it is that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party-led coalition is in tatters.

With only two of the six parties in the coalition calling the bailout legal, Democrats are said to be engaged in intense political lobbying, particularly toward opposition parties like the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra), ahead of the March 2 House of Representatives plenary session that will consider a final report on the government bailout.

Democratic officials have called on Yudhoyono to shake up the cabinet, getting rid of ministers from coalition parties who are not toeing the party line, including Golkar and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) – the two coalition parties most vocal about irregularities and illegalities in the bailout.

Internal rifts within the PKS have reportedly worsened during the course of House investigations into the bailout, with circulating rumors suggesting that lawmaker Fachri Hamzah had recently met with State Secretary Sudi Silalahi over the matter. Fachri is said to have allegedly been trying to get Yudhoyono to replace Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, the former head of the PKS.

Tifatul recently lambasted members of his party on the committee, saying they should keep their personal opinions to themselves. He was responding to statements by PKS lawmaker Andi Rahmat and party secretary general Anis Matta, who both said that indications of crimes had been found during the bailout probe.

When asked to comment on Sunday about the alleged meeting, Fachri denied that such a meeting between himself and Sudi had taken place, saying the "rumor" had been intentionally spread by the government itself to intimidate him and create internal friction within his party.

"They just want to intimidate me, so I am not too hard in the Century investigation," said Fachri, who is also a member of the House special committee. "I am not afraid because I am right. They are just panicking."

PKS secretary general Anis Matta said he had addressed the issue with Fachri himself.

"It is not true if people say we are in deep friction," he said. Talk about the supposed meeting "is being intentionally conducted by certain groups to divide our concentration toward the Bank Century case," Anis said.

He added that the PKS was communicating "quite well" with Yudhoyono. "So we are still in the coalition. Any talk of a cabinet reshuffle [resulting from the PKS's attitude toward the bailout] is just [the Democrats'] personal sentiment toward us, it does not represent Pak SBY," he said, referring to the president by his initials.

A lawmaker from the Democratic Party, Ruhut Sitompul, said his party had never exerted political pressures by lobbying for a reshuffle. On the contrary, he said, it is the Democrats who are under threat from other parties, particularly members of the coalition such as the PKS and Golkar.

"They [PKS and Golkar] should become members of the opposition rather than members of our coalition," Ruhut said. "Life is about choosing. Like black and white, just choose one."

He said Golkar and the PKS had threatened to quit the coalition if Yudhoyono fired ministers from their parties.

Senior Golkar Party official Priyo Budi Santoso has been quoted as saying that the party would withdraw from the governing coalition if Golkar ministers, such as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono, Minister of Industry MS Hidayat and Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad, were removed from the cabinet.