Prabowo meets his match

JAKARTA. After successfully securing leadership in the House of Representatives following a controversial plenary session last week, the Red-and-White Coalition, which nominated candidate Prabowo Subianto in the July 9 presidential election, finds itself on the defensive following the decision made by the coalition of president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to nominate Prabowo’s longtime nemesis, Oesman Sapta, as speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Oesman, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) representing West Kalimantan province, secured the council’s endorsement to run as MPR speaker during a vote held on Monday night, allowing him to be included in the leadership nomination packages proposed by the two competing coalitions.

While Jokowi’s coalition, led by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), confirmed that it would nominate a DPD member as MPR speaker, Prabowo’s camp quickly expressed reservations about having Oesman in its nomination package, claiming that the MPR’s standing orders allowed the coalition to pick an alternative candidate from the DPD.

“There’s no rationale behind the endorsement of one candidate for two [nomination] packages. For two different packages, the DPD should have nominated two different names,” Gerindra Party lawmaker Desmond Junaidi Mahesa said in the plenary meeting on Tuesday, which was later adjourned for another round of lobbying.

The DPD had earlier named nine candidates to run in the race for the leadership of the MPR, a bicameral assembly comprising the House and the DPD. However, lobbying from 10 House factions and one DPD faction resulted on Monday in a demand that the DPD name a single candidate for two nomination packages for the MPR leadership.

Oesman’s nomination is an apparent swipe at Prabowo, as the two maintain a long-standing conflict.

Oesman and Prabowo faced off in 2010 over the chairmanship of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI), one of the country’s largest farmers associations. Both claimed to be the legitimate head. In the 2014 presidential election, Oesman and the HKTI publicly declared their support for Jokowi’s presidential bid.

Both politicians have claimed leadership of the HKTI since 2010, when their competing claims split the organization into two camps.

PDI-P lawmaker Charles Honoris said Oesman was “the right man in the right place”, adding that he should be able to improve the Jokowi coalition’s standing after it lost the House chairmanship race last week.

“With solid support from all DPD members, we are sure our candidates will win this [MPR speakership] race,” he said.

In the House speaker race last week, Jokowi’s coalition fell one party short of nominating candidates for speaker and deputy speaker following a collapse in negotiations to forge a coalition between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the chairman of the Democratic Party, and PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Gerindra lawmaker and House deputy speaker Fadli Zon, however, insisted that Prabowo’s personal feud with Oesman was not the reason behind the Red-and-White Coalition’s position.

“It’s like a soccer team. It is impossible to have a player compete for two different teams,” he said.

The Red-and-White Coalition suffered another blow on Tuesday after the United Development Party (PPP) decided to join the Jokowi coalition.

The PPP decided to make the move after none of its politicians were included in the nomination package proposed by the Red-and-White Coalition.

“PPP is not hungry for power, but we want justice. Before the Democratic Party joined the Red-and-White Coalition, there was a written agreement saying that one of the House deputy speaker positions would be given to us,” PPP deputy secretary-general Syaifullah Tamliha said.

However, later on Tuesday evening, PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali claimed that the Red-and-White Coalition had put the Islamic-based party back in the coalition and that its politicians could be included in the nomination package.

Suryadharma said that the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) had agreed to forgo its seat in the package and give it to the PPP. “There has been a change. Our rights have been given back and Pak Hasrul will be the candidate,” said Suryadharma, who is engaged in a battle with a rival camp within the party over the party’s leadership. He was referring to PPP politician Hasrul Azwar, who was also included in the nomination package of the PDI-P-led coalition.

In the package proposed by the PDI-P, the coalition will nominate Ahmad Basarah of the PDI-P, Bachtiar Aly of the NasDem Party, Lukman Edy of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Hazrul as Oesman’s deputies.

In an official statement, the PPP faction at the House said that it would join the nomination package proposed by the PDI-P.

When asked by The Jakarta Post about the Red-and-White Coalition’s reluctance to accept his candidacy, Oesman said “that’s none of my business”. (Hasyim Widhiarto)