Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Camelia Pasandaran – With the Prosperous Justice Party continuing to be excluded from talks on the new look of the ruling government coalition, questions are being asked about its future in the cabinet.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a member of the Democratic Party's national leadership board, said on Thursday that five members of the ruling coalition were in talks over a new coalition contract. The five are the president's Democrats, the Golkar Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

"This indicates that there will be a major change of the PKS's role in the coalition," he said, using the Indonesian acronym for the Prosperous Justice Party. "What I mean by 'role' is the power-sharing agreement. There would be a change in the number of cabinet seats given to the PKS."

The PKS is currently one of the most important members of the ruling coalition, after the Democratic Party and Golkar. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gave it four ministerial posts in the current cabinet.

The Democrats' chairwoman for public communication affairs, Andi Nurpati, said that although Golkar had not always been in synch with the rest of the coalition, there was a strong desire to keep the party in the fold.

"Golkar is different because of its [political] style," she said. "You will see a lot of maneuvering, but when push comes to shove it will back the government. Golkar is different from the PKS. We are just aiming to build real harmony within the ruling coalition."

Golkar holds 106 of the 560 seats in the House of Representatives, the second most after the Democrats. The PKS has 57.

Anis Matta, secretary general of the PKS, confirmed that his party had not yet received a copy of the new coalition agreement proposed by Yudhoyono. The president of the PKS, Luthfi Hasan Ishaq, said they were still waiting for Yudhoyono to invite them for talks.

However, he stressed the PKS would not automatically approve the new coalition contract.

The party will support a new agreement if it can be used to develop the nation, improve public welfare and guarantee freedom of speech, Luthfi said. "But if the new contract weakens the constitutional rights of our legislative members or those of any political party, it would be useless for us and the citizens," he said.

The current proposal obliges all member parties to support any decision made by the coalition's joint secretariat. It also requires them to give legislative backing to all government policies.

Setya Novanto, Golkar chairman at the House, said his party would resist attempts to prevent the party from criticizing government policies "that could harm the people's interest."