Coalition government possible
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Jokowi says he would be happy if Golkar joined him
Indonesian presidential candidate Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that he would be glad if the Golkar Party decided to switch teams and support the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla ticket.
“Yes, that would be good, it means that we can work together,” Jokowi told reporters in Bandung, West Java, on Saturday, as reported by tempo.co.
However, Jokowi said that he could not promise anything to Golkar if it truly planned on joining the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) coalition. He emphasised that there would not be any political transactions within its coalition.
“We have already said that there will be no conditions,” he said.
Previous reports claimed that several Golkar politicians have regretted choosing to support rival ticket Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa after seeing that most credible survey institutions showed that Jokowi and Kalla were in the lead.
The quick count by the Cyrus Network and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies showed that Jokowi-Kalla were leading the presidential election with 47.17 per cent, whereas rivals Prabowo and Hatta had garnered 42.15 per cent.
Furthermore, Golkar politician Nusron Wahid said the party would try to unseat chairman Aburizal Bakrie due to the decision to support Prabowo.
If it succeeds, then Golkar would likely join the PDI-P and its coalition partners – the NasDem Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Hanura Party – in the ruling government.
With Golkar in the coalition, it is expected that a Jokowi administration would have a majority in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) has filed a report with the police on the alleged misrepresentation of facts by four survey institutions in connection with the 2014 presidential election quickcount results.
The watchdog accused the Strategic Development and Policy Research Centre (Puskaptis), the National Survey Institute (LSN), the Indonesian Research Centre (IRC) and the Indonesian Votes Network (JSI) – which announced the victory of the Prabowo-Hatta ticket – of public deception.
PBHI chairman Poltak Sinaga urged the pollsters to come clean about their methods.
“These pollsters do not have good intentions. There have been no apologies on their behalf, they have not admitted their mistakes might endanger the country,” Poltak said at National Police headquarters in South Jakarta on Saturday.
Poltak submitted recordings from several television stations showing that LSN’s quick counts amounted to more than 100 per cent of the vote.
“You cannot produce such numbers out of thin air. They [the pollsters] must immediately clarify to the public the methodology used in their surveys to restore public calm,” he said, declining to disclose evidence on the other pollsters.
Seven pollsters such as Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Indikator Politik, CSISCyrus, Kompas and the Radio Republic of Indonesia (RRI), placed candidates Jokowi and Kalla in the lead with an average of 52 per cent of the vote, whereas rivals Prabowo-Hatta garnered an average of 47 per cent.
However, Puskaptis, JSI, IRC and the LSN declared that Prabowo-Hatta won by less than 1 to 4 per cent. Their results have led to public confusion as their track records have shown they are less credible than those that announced Jokowi’s lead.
