TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has admitted that president-elect Joko Widodo and vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla require greater parliamentary support to ensure the smooth implementation of their programs.
“Need, but not beg for it,” PDI-P politician Eva Kusuma Sundari told Tempo in Jakarta on Tuesday, September 2, 2014.
Eva said new members of the PDI-P-led coalition must share similar visions and missions to Jokowi-Kalla’s and that the party would never cry out for fresh support.
“We are sure that the programs’ existence will depend on their rationality,” she said, explaining that the absence of new members in the coalition did not necessarily mean Jokowi and Kalla would fail to secure parliamentary consent for their programs.
Eva, however, was non-committal when asked about the National Mandate Party’s possibly joining the coalition in light of last night’s meeting between PAN chair Hatta Rajasa and Jokowi. “We’ll see. Everything is still in process,” she said.
Jokowi met last night with Hatta Rajasa at National Democrat (NasDem) chair Surya Paloh’s private residence. According to NasDem secretary general Rio Capella, the meeting discussed the possibility of PAN’s jumping ship.
ANANDA TERESIA
