By: Ismail) *
The coalition camp looks like a beard fire, when the presidential victory carried by Joko Widodo, leaving their turmoil, calm and certainty over the cabinet seats that are disturbed by the phenomenon of President Jokowi’s closeness with his former rival Prabowo Subianto. Even Prabowo also had a close relationship with PDI-P General Chair Megawati Soekarno Putri.
The meeting between Megawati and Prabowo also took place familiarly and was known as the diplomacy of fried rice, because on this occasion Megawati made her concoction of fried rice which was also a favorite of Gus Dur.
The closeness between the two of them certainly does not have to make us feel shocked, due to the fact that Megawati had paired up with Prabowo during the 2019 Presidential Election, this shows that politics is something dynamic, where sometimes opponents can become friends.
Even so, the meeting indicated that there would be no “plus – plus coalition” in the composition of the cabinet for the period 2019 – 2024.
On the other hand, the PDI-P minus coalition camp also installed horses by holding a meeting attended by the chairman and secretary of each at the Nasdem Party headquarters, where the coalition party seemed to imply objections to the addition of coalition participants, except for the Nasdem party which stated clearly that the addition of a coalition party is not needed, according to Nasdem the coalition’s strength is more than enough, it is very apparent that the Nasdem party’s disagreement is seen also from the Nasdem party headquarters being hosted the meeting, strangely the second meeting was with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan who was a political opponent when the DKI Pilgub.
From the meeting, Nasdem Party’s jealousy was very visible, towards the Gerindra party which was getting closer to Jokowi and PDIP, in fact the changing political map was a necessity, which the opponent could have become friends and it was common.
For example in the context of regional elections, both the regent or governor, party support is certainly not linear with the central coalition, depending on the agreement of the regional political parties, even the coalition is not permanent. Because every 5 years there will be another election, so it is very possible that the political map will change.
For example Banten Governor Wahidin, when his opponent’s Pilgub was Ratu Atut, in the last year’s elections they united in coalition with Andika Hazrumy (Ratu Atut’s son) against Rano Karno from PDI-P, so politics, therefore there was no need for jealousy or even show of force to other coalition partners including the elected President.
What we worry about is that jealousy that has been shown to be explicitly revealed is not followed by other coalition friends, however the interests of each party will be put forward, namely the interest in gaining seats, solidarity will be ‘obsolete’ when the power becomes the target of politicians.
Of course it would be better to remain solid in supporting the President-elect as well as being a solid coalition and fully supporting government policies that will run for the next 5 years.
Instead of being left behind by a friend, then not getting a seat in the cabinet, instead the chair was transferred to the opponent and turned into opposition, of course it would be very unfortunate.
The coalition party certainly must be aware that the cabinet election is the President’s full prerogative right, although it is not impossible that the President will ask for advice from the supporting party, who will later assist him in the Indonesia Working Cabinet.
Although later it will be included in the cabinet, it does not mean that the position allows him to sit comfortably, because the cabinet reshuffle is also very possible, such as when Anies Baswedan was removed from his position as Minister of Education,
Politicians must be aware that there are no eternal opponents or friends in the political sphere, there is an enduring interest, in the realm of the 2019 presidential election PAN and PKS are Prabowo’s bearer coalition parties, but it will be different if there will be Pilbup or Pilgub.
For example, Ganjar Pranowo did not get support from PAN and PKB, but in the realm of the Presidential Election, PKB seemed keen to support Jokowi because of the charismatic cleric who accompanied Jokowi namely KH Ma’ruf Amin. This shows that being a politician must not be rigid.
The coalition party certainly has a task that is greater than expected – anxious to get a seat, namely to continue to support and oversee the direction of the president’s policy.
) * The author is a sociopolitical observer
