Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The Democratic Party has been working behind the scenes to see if its governing coalition can be salvaged to ensure a workable partnership between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the House of Representatives.

Amir Syamsuddin, secretary general of the party, which has the most seats in the House, said it was evaluating the coalition and discussing ways to improve its effectiveness given the spectacular falling-out the Democrats had with key coalition members over the controversial bailout of Bank Century.

Amir said the Democrats wanted "an effective coalition that could support the government" as tensions over the bailout continued to cause it headaches.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Golkar Party both voted that the Rp 6.7 trillion ($730 million) government bailout, approved by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono, who was central bank governor at the time, was illegal and showed indications of corruption.

Some analysts have said the move against the Democrats was intended to gain political mileage or leverage trade-offs.

In a political twist, however, the National Police earlier this month launched an investigation – at the behest of the president – into allegations that PKS legislator Mukhamad Misbakhun owed Bank Century nearly $20 million. Mukhamad was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the House special committee that investigated the bailout.

Business tycoon Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of Golkar, also has an acrimonious history with Sri Mulyani, especially over allegations of tax evasion against companies connected to Aburizal's family.

Amir and a number of senior Democrats have urged Yudhoyono to consider a cabinet reshuffle to purge uncooperative members of the coalition, but he has so far resisted those calls.

Syarif Hasan, the state minister for cooperatives and small and medium enterprises, who is also deputy secretary general of the Democrats, confirmed that Yudhoyono had no plans to reshuffle the cabinet. "We are entering a new phase," he said. "Our faction in the House has built good lines of communication with the PKS."

However, this appeared to be news to Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, from the PKS, who said it was entirely up to the president to reshuffle his cabinet. "I have no problem with it," Tifatul said. "It's the right of the [Democratic] party to recommend a reshuffle."

Separately, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said Yudhoyono had requested input from his ministers regarding the House recommendations in the Bank Century case.

"The president requested the involved ministers respond to the House recommendations," he said. Without elaborating, Sudi said Yudhoyono expected "input, suggestions and responses" to the outcome of the House probe, which included talk of forcing Sri Mulyani and Boediono from office.