TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Mandate Party (PAN) leader Amien Rais, urged fellow opposition political figure Prabowo Subianto to refrain from joining the government under president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration.

He opined that the president and vice president-elect should be given the chance to run Indonesia’s governance as a whole.

“In terms of authority, give Jokowi – Ma’ruf Amin the full opportunity together with their state ministers. We shall keep an eye on them for the next five years,” said Amien at South Jakarta on Monday.

Amien’s statement is his inaugural response to the meeting between Jokowi and Prabowo at the MRT Lebak Bulus Station on Saturday last week. He agrees that it unofficially acted as a reconciliation between two groups that once contested each other in the 2019 presidential election.

However, Amien Rais reminded Prabowo to not join the government and argues that democracy mandates the existence of an opposition to keep the ruling-government in-check and provide political balance.

He also suggested Prabowo’s camp to continue as oppositions in the parliament as it would keep in check any future government policies.

“It would sound the bell for democracy’s death if the majority of the parliament merely acts as a spokesperson for the executive,” he said.

BUDIARTI UTAMI PUTRI