SMOOTH RIDE FOR SBY

Jusuf Kalla, Indonesia's vice president and recently elected head of the main opposition Golkar party is - as expected - pulling Golkar out of the coalition of losers. That means that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) will face an easier-than-anticipated first term:

Jusuf pulling Golkar out of opposition coalition (registration required)
But he says the party will remain a critical partner of the government

JAKARTA - FRESH from his election as the new leader of the Golkar Party, Mr Jusuf Kalla has strongly signalled that Golkar is out of the Nationhood Coalition of opposition parties, saying there is no such permanent bloc in the country's Parliament.

'There is no such thing as a permanent coalition in the House which is now very dynamic and everything must be in accordance with prevailing issues,' Mr Jusuf, who is also Indonesia's Vice-President, said.

Past decisions are always subject to change, especially in politics. 'Golkar will remain a critical partner of the government,' Mr Jusuf said.

Earlier this year, Golkar and Mrs Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party - Struggle (PDI-P) formed the coalition to support the former president's re-election bid.

Golkar are a bunch of crooks, so the party's new alliance with the president may mean that SBY's promised anti-corruption drive will be hampered. Still, I am provisionally welcoming this as a good thing.

Since the fall of Suharto, Indonesia's parliament has always been dreadfully slow at passing vital reforms, whether they were pertaining to economic or security issues.

With a parliament that is now firmly allied with the executive branch, there may finally be an opportunity to break the political gridlock that seemed to be the permanent state of affairs in Indonesia.

Even if the anti-corruption drive stalls, it probably would have been limited by an unruly parliament. So, at the very least, we should welcome this change in that it will allow some progress in other areas.