Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ismira Lutfia – Crumbling support among coalition parties to invoke the legislative right to express an opinion on the PT Bank Century bailout has opposition parties acknowledging it will be an uphill battle, even as they claim to have enough support to take it to a vote.

Syarifuddin Sudding, secretary of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said on Wednesday that while he was disappointed with the announcement by the coalition secretariat that it would leave the pursuit of the right to express an opinion up to individual parties, he hoped the groundwork laid so far would not go to waste.

"We hope the coalition parties consider how hard the House worked in probing the case, and how much taxpayer money and legislators' time will have been wasted if we don't invoke the right," he said.

Sudding claimed 160 lawmakers had already signed the petition to invoke the right, which could pave the way to the possible impeachment of Vice President Boediono, the central bank governor at the time of the Rp 6.7 trillion ($737 million) bailout.

Because this represents more than a quarter of the House's 560 legislators, he went on, the issue could be put to a vote. "The problem is, the numbers are against us."

The ruling Democratic Party has 148 seats, or 26 percent of the House, and because the right to express an opinion would require support from 75 percent of the plenary, the party could scupper the vote on its own.

The six-party ruling coalition, controls more than three-quarters of House seats.

Ahmad Muzani, secretary general of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), criticized the coalition secretariat for its "authoritarian approach" of weakening legislators' commitment to pursuing the Century case.

"They've closed the book on Century," he said. "Diponegoro 43 [the address of the secretariat] has become the de facto legislature where all the decisions are now made."

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) lawmaker Pramono Anung said the decisions made by the coalition secretariat should not infringe on the workings of the House.

"An individual legislator's rights are just that – individual," he said. Pramono urged all parties at the House not to coerce their legislators into choosing one stance or another in the right to express an opinion. "It'd be even more unacceptable if the parties punished those legislators who have already signed the petition."

The National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP) have both threatened to do this, while the Golkar Party said it would prohibit any more of its legislators from signing.

Golkar lawmaker Bambang Susatyo, leading the charge on the issue, said: "We'll keep moving on."