PKS faces rift over support for government

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is facing internal conflict following its patrons' decision to renew the party's support for the government.

PKS secretary-general Anis Matta said on Tuesday the vote of confidence for the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla had drawn protest from around 60 percent of the party's regional leaders.

Anis said the regional leaders expressed disappointment through text messages they sent to him.

"Far from my earlier estimate, not only the Yogyakarta chapter has criticized the decision as I received more text messages from leaders of most regional chapters," said Anis, who is also a member of House of Representatives Commission I on political, defense and foreign affairs.

Anis deemed the decision taken by the influential board of patrons a fair compromise.

"The support should be seen as a moderate way to bridge the party's loyalty to its constituents and the party's commitment to the state," he said.

Anis said the government should not take PKS support for granted.

"It is up to the government whether it can retain our political backing for another year," Anis said.

PKS patrons said the party's support would be subject to review after one year.

They reaffirmed their support for the government, saying its shortcomings were within tolerable limits.

In their eight-point statement, the patrons underlined the government's unpopular policies that they said had led to more suffering for the people. The government's most controversial policy was the 126 percent average increase in fuel prices.

PKS has especially criticized the performance of the Cabinet's economics team. PKS president Tiffatul Sembiring said after the meeting on Sunday he would ask Susilo for an opportunity to directly submit the party's evaluation of the government's performance.

Tiffatul refused to comment on reports saying the party would ask President Susilo to grant one more seat in the Cabinet, from the current three seats.

PKS has reportedly been seeking the attorney general seat, due to its concern about its persistent fight against corruption.

A party member and former official of the State Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Bakin), Soeripto, has reportedly been nominated to replace Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh.

Other reports said PKS would likely get an additional seat in the Cabinet in the upcoming reshuffle. Some analysts believe the reshuffle would affect finance minister Jusuf Anwar, who is non- partisan.

A legislator told detik.com news portal that PKS had also proposed its new member Fuad Bawazier, a finance minister under dictator Soeharto, for the finance minister post.

"The proposal was agreed," the source said, but the endorsement has irked the National Mandate Party (PAN), of which Fuad is a former member. Fuad left PAN after losing in the race for its chairmanship to Soetrisno Bachir in April.