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Rough road ahead for Red-White Coalition, predicts Fahri Hamzah

Jakarta Globe - January 3, 2016

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Jakarta – House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah predicts a rough year ahead for the opposition bloc, the Red-White Coalition, with his own party starting to show signs of support for President Joko Widodo's administration.

Fahri sees his party, the Prosperous Justice Party or PKS, straying further away from the opposition bloc as the year progresses.

"The year 2016 will be an arduous year for the KMP [the Red-White Coalition]," Fahri said on Sunday, highlighting several political stances the PKS took that went against the alliance last year.

The clearest example, he continued, was the PKS's reluctance to defend former House speaker Setya Novanto – whom Fahri said was a driving force for the Red-White Coalition in the legislature – as he was being investigated for attempting to extort mining giant Freeport Indonesia for billions of dollars worth of shares.

Last moth, several PKS leaders had a private meeting with the president, from which Fahri was noticeably left out.

PKS advisory board chairman Salim Segaf Al Jufri said on Sunday that the meeting "was scheduled to build togetherness," adding that the party would support all of the government's programs "as long as they are pro-people."

"We didn't come to ask for seats or positions. We wanted to show that [the PKS] is an independent party committed to growth. But we will continue to provide constructive criticisms and maintain checks and balances. One way to show that is through such courtesy visits," Salim said.

The stance is similar to that shown by the Democratic Party early last year when it announced it was never a part of the Red-White Coalition – founded during the 2014 presidential election to support the nomination of Joko's rival, Prabowo Subianto.

Last year also saw the National Mandate Party (PAN) switching sides in favor of Joko's Awesome Indonesia Coalition (KIH).

With PAN's departure and the Democrats and PKS wavering between the two blocs, Fahri said, the Red-White bloc will only be truly supported by the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), Golkar and the United Development Party (PPP).

The last two are currently split between members who wish to stay in the alliance and those who wish to join Joko's coalition.

Fahri said regardless of his party's decision, he will remain loyal to the opposition bloc. "If all political powers side with the government then a dangerous oligarchy will be formed. There can never be a healthy democracy [without opposition]," he said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/rough-road-ahead-red-white-coalition-predicts-fahri-hamzah/.