TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- Head of the Executive Board of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Hidayat Nur Wahid denied that President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI-P) of Struggle had never communicated with PKS leaders.
In the past few weeks, Jokowi has been meeting Chairman of the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra) Party Prabowo Subianto and a number of political parties chairman supporting Prabowo's coalition, such as Chairman of the Golkar Party Aburizal Bakrie, Chairman of the Democratic Party Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Hatta Rajasa.
According to Hidayat, the president has also met with Chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Anis Matta; however, the meeting was not reported by the media.
"Why must I report the meeting to the media?" Hidayat said Friday, adding that during the session, the president looked comfortable talking to PKS Cadres.
PKS joins the Prabowo-led Red-and-White Coalition (KMP) and on several occasions expressed their readiness to become an opposition political party outside the government.
MUHAMMAD MUHYIDDIN
