PKS vows support for SBY Cabinet

PKS vows support for SBY Cabinet

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) very likely elicited a big
sigh of relief from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the
Muslim-based party reconfirmed its support for his government, at
least for another year.

Wrapping up its two-day meeting, the influential PKS board of
patrons unanimously agreed to grant Susilo a crucial vote of
confidence.

"The board of patrons will not withdraw support for the
government. PKS will not leave the United Indonesia Cabinet
either," PKS chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin announced during a
press conference.

The good news for Susilo came just after the Golkar Party
announced its position as the bedrock of political support for
the one-year-old government of Susilo and Vice President Jusuf
Kalla, who is also the Golkar leader.

At least two PKS regional chapters (Yogyakarta and Jakarta)
had demanded that the party leave the government due to its
decision to raise fuel prices by an average 126 percent on Oct.
1, a policy which was narrowly approved by the party.

In its eight-point statement, the PKS patrons were aware that
Susilo had not fully complied with the deal he inked with the
party ahead of the presidential election last year.

"The implementation of the political contract over the past
year has not lived up to the public's expectation, but is still
within the tolerable limit given the transitional period from a
dictatorial regime," PKS leader Tiffatul Sembiring read out from
the statement.

PKS lent its support to Susilo with conditions that the
president would promote good governance, improve education,
uphold the supremacy of law and create more job opportunities.
Susilo won an outright majority in the presidential election
runoff over the incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri 14 months ago.

After a little more than a year, Susilo's government has
earned praise for its fight against corruption, but drew
criticism for its poor management of the economy as reflected by
the soaring inflation rate and increasing unemployment numbers.

Tiffatul said the party would maintain its position as "a
critical partner" of the government and push for some change in
the Cabinet, particularly the economic team.

The party will pass along its performance evaluation of the
economic ministers directly to the President, but it will not be
made public.

"We will submit our assessment to the government directly, so
that if the reshuffle in the economic team does not take place,
nobody will have hard feelings," Tiffatul said.

Over the next year, the party plans to encourage the
government, particularly PKS-affiliated ministers, to improve.

In the field of law enforcement, PKS is demanding prosecution
of government officials and businesspeople implicated in high-
profile cases, who have so far managed to elude justice. PKS also
demanded that the People's Consultative Assembly maintain a 1998
decree that requires legal moves against corruption cases
involving former president Soeharto.

Golkar, on the other hand, recently presented an award to
Soeharto for his service as the party's founder. In an interview
on RCTI television on Friday, Golkar leader Kalla hinted that the
party might propose an annulment of the 1998 decree against the
former dictator, who stepped down in 1998 after 32 years in
power.