(Jakarta Post) Coalition Member Dissent Deal

12/12/2018

A rift has occurred within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led Great Indonesia Coalition amid talks to resolve a weeks-long standoff with the rival Red-and-White Coalition in the House of Representatives.

Negotiators representing both coalitions, which have been fighting over leadership positions in the House’s 16 internal bodies, had recently concluded a deal that included an agreement to allocate 21 of the 80 leadership posts to members of the Great Indonesia Coalition, as well as to amend two related regulations — the 2014 Law on the legislative institution, known as the MD3 Law, and a 2014 House internal regulation — in order to allow such power-sharing.

As previously revealed by Red-and-White Coalition spokesperson Idrus Marham of the Golkar Party, the two sides agreed to revise several articles on the structure of House chairmanships to allow the addition of an extra deputy chairperson seat to the existing three posts in all House internal bodies in order to include lawmakers from the Great Indonesia Coalition in leadership positions.

The Great Indonesia Coalition, which nominated President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla in July’s presidential election, had lost all leadership positions to the Red-and-White Coalition, which nominated Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa, because of the voting mechanisms stipulated in the two aforementioned regulations.

On Tuesday, several politicians from factions within the Great Indonesia Coalition slammed the agreement, arguing that it would only lead to horse-trading within the legislative body.

“[…] We won’t agree to any compromise that promotes bad politics. Amending regulations [to suit our own ends] isn’t right,” said Dossy Iskandar Prasetyo, leader of the Hanura faction at the House.

He added that his faction would settle for nothing less than a return to a system that would allow for the proportional representation of political factions in the leadership of the House and its internal bodies. “We must uphold regulations even if it means we get nothing. The selection of leaders for all the House’s internal bodies, including its 11 commissions, should grant leadership positions to each of the 10 factions at the House according to their performance in the April 9 legislative elections,” he said.

Such a mechanism would allow the PDI-P, as the winner of the legislative election, to obtain the most positions.

Leader of the NasDem faction Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat agreed with Hanura’s proposal. “NasDem has declined to amend the MD3 Law and the [House] internal regulation just to get leadership positions. When both coalitions have equal power, proportional representation is the middle way. We must work together to find a consensus,” Viktor said, referring to the fact that the two camps have an equal number of member-parties, with five parties, by some counts, constituting each coalition.

In addition to the PDI-P, Hanura and NasDem, the Great Indonesia Coalition includes the National Awakening Party (PKB), while one faction of the United Development Party (PPP), which is currently in the throes of a schism, has also expressed its desire to join, although the party technically currently remains a member of the Red-and-White Coalition.

Viktor asked senior PDI-P politician Pramono Anung to keep briefing coalition members on the progress of the ongoing talks.

Pramono and fellow party member Olly Dondokambey, who chairs the PDI-P faction at the House, have been representing the Great Indonesia Coalition in talks with leaders of the Red-and-White Coalition.

Some members of the opposition coalition have expressed their support for the agreement reached by the two sides, although others have expressed reservations.

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(Jakarta Post) Coalition Member Dissent Deal