No objection to Nasdem, PKB's demands, says PDIP

It is not a problem if the PKB and Nasdem have demanded a certain number of ministerial posts. That is OK. It is just a request

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) said here Thursday that it had no objection to the National Democratic Party's (Nasdem's) and National Awakening Party's (PKB's) demands for a certain number of ministerial posts.

"It is not a problem if the PKB and Nasdem have demanded a certain number of ministerial posts. That is OK. It is just a request," PDIP Deputy Secretary General Eriko Sotarduga said, and added that as the Jokowi-Amin pair's prime supporter, PDIP would support Jokowi's decision.

It would not intervene in the rights and sovereignty of the Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin pair's coalition parties regarding the cabinet line-up issues, the PDIP revealed.

However, as the president-elect, it was Jokowi’s prerogative to select and determine figures who would become his cabinet members, and all coalition parties could merely propose. The PDIP itself, would not beg for ministerial posts, he said.

"For the PDIP, Mr. Jokowi is its best cadre so that we are supporting whatever decision he will have made. We also see him as a statesman who will also have the ethics of statesmanship," he said.

The issues related to ministerial posts would be deliberated by President-elect Jokowi and the PDIP leader, Megawati Soekarnoputeri. Hence, the PDIP did not see the need to make any requests, he said.

At the moment, none of the PDIP cadres has been proposed as ministerial candidates, he added.

In connection with this cabinet line-up issue, a member of Nasdem's board of experts Taufiqulhadi, claimed that Nasdem is eligible to bag 11 ministerial posts owing to its electability rate surpassing that of the PKB.

"Nasdem has grabbed more votes in the House of Representatives (DPR) than those of the PKB in the recent parliamentary elections, so it is eligible to propose that it secure 11 ministerial posts," he stated.

Despite the fact that no official deliberation has yet been held, Nasdem could maintain its seats in Jokowi's current working cabinet, he noted.

The PKB leader, Muhaimin Iskandar, should avoid publicly announcing his party's keenness to obtain 10 ministerial posts and instead discuss it with Jokowi, he suggested.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) had officially announced Sunday that Jokowi and his running mate, Ma'ruf Amin, were the president-elect and vice president-elect of Indonesia following the Constitutional Court's (MK's) final ruling. (INE)

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