Presidential hopeful Joko Widodo has said that he wants a “no-condition coalition” formed without horse trading for cabinet seats, but analysts are sceptical that his vision will be achieved.
The presidential hopeful said he wants to build a new tradition devoid of these petty political transactions that swell the number of cabinet seats.
“We have to build a new tradition. If we don’t, it’s going to be like this forever. In the last election the number of cabinet seats totalled 64. Under Indonesian law on ministerial posts, there can only be 35,” Joko was recently quoted by Bisnis.com.
However, National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar last week made a controversial statement, saying he could guarantee that the religious affairs minister would come from Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) if Joko became the country’s next president.
The statement suggested that the PKB and Joko have been involved in a political transaction.
“This is strange. On the one hand Joko has been saying that there is no agreement about the distribution of ministerial seats, but on the other, one of the chairmen of the political parties that supported Jokowi-Kalla guaranteed that the religious affairs ministerial post will be given to someone from NU,” political analyst Deni Lesmana said in Jakarta on Saturday.
Joko has contradicted Muhaimin’s statement, saying that there hasn’t been any discussion about who will fill his cabinet if he won the presidential race.
The Jakarta governor maintains that he has never made any promises regarding ministerial posts to political parties that support him.
“I already said that our coalition is without condition,” Joko insisted, adding that he will discuss the ministerial posts after he is elected as president and that the ministers will undergo a fit and proper test.
Joko said that changing the system is not enough to create a better Indonesia.
“It’s useless if we change the system and prepare infrastructure but don’t have a good mentality. That’s why I often emphasize the importance of a mental revolution,” he said.
Deni said that even though Joko has challenged Muhaimin’s statement, many believe Joko’s “no-condition coalition” is just part of image-building politics, adding that political transaction are inevitable in a coalition.
“This is the political reality in our country. They always say initially that there is no distribution of ministerial posts, but we’ll see,” Deni said.
Source/Fuente: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jokowi-says-wants-condition-coalitio...
