Anita Rachman, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's deputy chairwoman, Puan Maharani, has stressed it would remain a steadfast opposition party, despite last week having signaled otherwise.
Speaking on Tuesday, she said the party, also known as the PDI-P, would continue to abide by the vision set out by the party's congress in April that it would continue to keep the Democratic Party-led government in check.
"It doesn't matter who says what, it's the congress's decision that has to be respected by all party members," she said.
On Friday, Puan had said the party was open to taking seats in the cabinet, and to opening lines of communication with the Democrats' ruling coalition. The statement was strongly criticized by other party officials who argued that token seats in the cabinet were not worth changing the party's stance.
PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is also Puan's mother, has been adamant the party will remain in opposition.
Puan clarified Friday's statement by saying that an alliance would only be possible if the congress's decision was annulled. "Is that possible? We will see. Whatever we do, it's solely for the country – without forgetting our ideology," she said.
Speculation that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may soon reshuffle his cabinet has prompted talk about which parties are set to benefit. Puan said the PDI-P had so far not raised the cabinet issue with Yudhoyono's Democratic Party. She said a recent invitation to several top Democrats to her son's circumcision ceremony was only a polite gesture.
The party, however, was still open to any communication or offers, so long as it was in the national interest, she added.
Yudi Latif, a political observer from the Reform Institute, said the supposed offer of cabinet seats might just be a warning to the Democrats' coalition partner, the Golkar Party. "It's like they wanted to say to Golkar, 'If you keep pushing us, it doesn't matter, we have PDI-P,'?" he said.
Although a member of the Democrats' coalition, Golkar has often had a differing – and sometimes critical – stance on government policies.