The Jakarta Post, 27 February 2011
The Golkar Party downplayed threats from its coalition partner, the Democratic Party, to evaluate Golkar's membership in the government party coalition after a disagreement over a legislative tax inquiry proposal.
Golkar strongly backed the proposal, which sought to form a legislative inquiry on corruption within the Indonesian taxation system, while the Democratic Party led the push to reject it.
Democratic Party executives said they had asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the founder and chief patron of the party, to evaluate Golkar's membership in the coalition in relation to the disagreement.
The Golkar Party downplayed threats from its coalition partner, the Democratic Party, to evaluate Golkar's membership in the government party coalition after a disagreement over a legislative tax inquiry proposal.
Golkar strongly backed the proposal, which sought to form a legislative inquiry on corruption within the Indonesian taxation system, while the Democratic Party led the push to reject it.
Democratic Party executives said they had asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the founder and chief patron of the party, to evaluate Golkar's membership in the coalition in relation to the disagreement.
Golkar spokesman Lalu Mara Satriawangsa said, however, that Golkar would not do anything to respond to the Democratic Party executives' moves until the President really had a say in the matter.
“The Golkar Party has not conducted any meetings to respond [to the evaluation request],” Lalu said on Sunday in Jakarta, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
He added there had been no talks yet regarding the requested evaluation of membership or possible reshuffling of Golkar ministers from the Cabinet between Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie and Yudhoyono.
“That [reshuffle] is the prerogative of the President, and the President already has a tool to perform the evaluation,” Lalu said, reiterating that Golkar would wait for the President's reaction on the matter.
Source: The Jakarta Post
