The Indonesian Institute Center For Public Policy Research
The partner parties of the coalition of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration – Golkar, PKS, and PPP – shared a different stance with the government in a vote in the Plenary Meeting of the House of Representatives (DPR) on the final conclusions of the Century Bank Scandal. These political parties stand on one leg in the coalition with the government and on another leg in the opposition group in the DPR. This phenomenon is also not uncommon during the five-year period of the Yudhoyono-Kalla government. The coalition built has never been solid. There have always been rifts, although in percentage the coalition of the governing parties has a bigger number of supporters in the parliament.
Rather than closing this weak point – elite communications – some Democratic politicians in the DPR have done counterproductive things that actually have undermine the communication channels between the president and the political elite. This matter has worsened the coalition ties. The idea of cabinet reshuffle proposed by several Democratic politicians has also exacerbates the relationships amongst the coalition parties. The ones that are really need the coalition are Yudhoyono and Democratic Party.
This edition of the Indonesian Update raises a main topic on the Reformulation and Reorientation of the Post-Century Coalition. The Indonesian Update also raises some important topics from several fields. In the economy and finance, it talks about tax and development, the global economic situation in the first quarter of 2010, and the rupiah. In politics, it discusses the participation of the wives of the incumbents in direct regional elections. In social affairs, it raises themes on the engineered cases by some police and on the polemics over the smoking banning.
