Anita Rachman & Armando Siahaan – The Golkar Party has no plans to leave the ruling coalition led by the Democratic Party, it said on Thursday.

"We would never think of leaving the joint coalition secretariat, much less actually do it," Golkar secretary general Idrus Marham said.

On Wednesday, Yamin Tawari, associate chairman of Golkar's executive board, said the party should quit after the other coalition partners shot down its proposal to provide each lawmaker with Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) to fund development projects in their constituencies.

"If we can't stick together, if we don't have the same views any more, what's the use of us staying in the coalition?" Yamin said after the House of Representatives' leadership's decision to shelve Golkar's "pork barrel" proposal.

He said Golkar understood that the idea of a coalition was to have a forum where members could discuss opinions. "And it is now happening, a place to debate conceptual ideas," he said.

Golkar legislator and House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said Yamin's statement was not a threat to quit the coalition, but was "merely an expression of disappointment and anger."

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said Yamin's frustration was understandable because he felt that while the joint secretariat had initially considered Golkar's idea, it later denounced it amid the growing public outcry against the proposal.

"But the discussion was informal, and the joint secretariat never took an official stance on the issue," Ikrar said.

Sunny Tanuwidjaja, a political analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it was important to differentiate between a remark made by a party member and an official party statement.

Indonesia, he said, had reached the stage where a politician had the courage to express an opinion differing from the official party stance.

Golkar, Sunny said, was fully aware that it could not afford to lose its current position in the coalition's joint secretariat over an issue that has been widely rejected by coalition partners, the government and the general public.

The resistance mounted by the other coalition partners against the pork-barrel fund also showed that Golkar does not have an absolute grip over the secretariat, Sunny said.

"If a Golkar idea has the potential to damage [the other coalition parties'] credibility before the people, they will not risk their political image by agreeing to it," he said.