PPP the only hope for Jokowi-led coalition

JAKARTA. President-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s hopes of securing support from major political factions in the House of Representatives may be heading for a stumbling block after the Golkar Party and the Democratic Party looked to be backing away from plans to join the ruling coalition.

Several sources said it was almost impossible for the two parties to join the coalition, leaving the United Development Party (PPP) as the only party with a chance to do so.

On Sunday, senior PPP politician and former vice president Hamzah Haz held a meeting with the senior members of the Muslim-based party at his residence in Jakarta.

The meeting was aimed at expediting the plan to hold a national congress to unseat the party’s disgraced chairman, Suryadharma Ali, who has been implicated in haj corruption cases.

Also on Sunday, a PPP deputy chairman, Suharso Monoarfa, made a surprise appearance at the National Awakening Party’s (PKB) national congress in Surabaya, East Java.

The PKB joined the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led coalition in nominating Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla in the July 9 presidential election.

Last week, Suharso was also seen visiting Kalla’s residence in South Jakarta. Although he denied the visit was politically-motivated, speculation was rife that Suharso, known as a rival of Suryadharma, was moving to join the Jokowi-Kalla coalition.

“I did not come as a PPP executive [when I visited Kalla’s house]. I came as a professional to discuss issues related to the draft of the 2015 state budget,” he said.

The Jokowi-Kalla coalition has been looking for more parties to ally with so it can wield more control in the House of Representatives.

The current members of the coalition — the PDI-P, the PKB, the NasDem Party and the Hanura Party — only make up 36.4 percent of House seats. The PPP, which won 7 percent of legislative seats in the April 9 legislative election, could strengthen the coalition’s legislative power to 43.4 percent.

Golkar and Democratic Party, which control 27.2 percent of legislative seats, had earlier indicated they would leave the camp of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and join Jokowi’s coalition.

Although the leaders of the two parties insisted they would not betray their commitments in joining the so-called permanent coalition established by Prabowo, analysts believed their political stances could change before Jokowi’s inauguration in October.

However, a source close to Kalla recently confirmed that Golkar and the Democratic Party could not be enticed to join the winning coalition, so efforts had been made to lure the PPP.

“The PPP now has the biggest chance [to join the Jokowi-Kalla camp]. I heard they are waiting for the KPK [the Corruption Eradication Commission] to arrest chairman Suryadharma Ali before launching concrete efforts to unseat him, after which the party will be set to jump ship,” the source said.

The PPP’s other deputy chairman, Hasrul Azwar, acknowledged that the party’s political stance could change in the future.

“But such a decision must be made in a formal forum such as a national caucus or congress,” he explained.

Suryadharma resigned from his position as religious affairs minister in May after he was named a suspect by the KPK in relation to the alleged misuse of state funds and other irregularities in the 2012-2013 haj program. (Bagus BT Saragih)