Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Democratic Party seems to be at a loss in the face of the ever-widening scandal its treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin is entangled in, political analysts and insiders say.

Siti Zuhro, an analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), says that given the potential damage the scandals can create to the party, the Democrats should immediately decide what to do with Nazaruddin, who is also a lawmaker. But sanctioning or firing their treasurer may not be that simple.

Yunarto Wijaya, an analyst from Charta Politika, said there were two possible reasons for the party's apparent fence-sitting. First, he said that Nazaruddin might be holding a trump card that, if leaked, could endanger the party as a whole or some of its officials.

A Democratic source told the Jakarta Globe over the weekend that the ruling party was indeed struggling to find the best way to deal with Nazaruddin, who has rejected calls to step down as treasurer and has threatened to publicize information he has on the party if he is forced to leave.

Besides this, Yunarto said there was the matter of internal party politics. He said certain factions within the party seem to be backing Nazaruddin, while others are trying to corner him – a development that could relate to "financial benefits in the future if you'd bear in mind the 2014 polls."

For instance, party spokesman and member of the investigation team Ruhut Sitompul on Sunday defended Nazaruddin against Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud M.D.'s allegation that the treasurer tried to bribe the court with 120,000 Singapore dollars ($10,000). He said he had talked to Nazaruddin and believed the claims were false.

On the other hand, party deputy chairman Max Sopacua said there were just two possible conclusions to this scandal – for Nazaruddin to resign or for him to be dismissed.

The split in the party was also evident from a statement by the Democrats' secretary general, Edhie Baskoro, on Sunday. The president's son said he hoped the internal polemics would not grow as this would only distract the party from solving its problems, including the Southeast Asia Games graft scandal in which Nazaruddin was also implicated. Edhie said the case should be left to law enforcers.

Yunarto also warned that allowing the construction kickback scandal to go on unresolved could taint the party's image. "People are already skeptical about political parties, but they still see the Democrats as a party concerned with corruption cases." Max said the decision on Nazaruddin would be made "early this week."