Tifatul Sembiring: Golkar-PKS will be a big Political Power

President of Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) Tifatul Sembiring said on thursday, February 26, 2009 that cooperation between two large parties Golkar and PKS can form a large and powerful political force. His statement was made after the Chairman of Golkar Jusuf Kalla visited PKS Headquarters in Jakarta last night. During the meeting of the two parties, Jusuf Kalla was paired with former Chairman of PKS Hidayat Nur Wahid as running mates for the coming Presidential Election on July 9, 2009.

Tifatul Sembiring said that so far in the Indonesian political environment there were only two blocks of political force, namely S-Block (referring to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) and M-Block (Megawati Sukarnoputri). With the new possible coalition between Golkar and PKS, there will be a new Block of political power that will compete with two others.

Acording to Tifatul Sembiring, Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid so far is still the PKS candidate for the coming Presidential Election, however, a new cooperation is still open for negotiation between the two parties.

In the meantime, Jusuf Kalla said the his visit to PKS HQ is part of the probing for cooperation between Golkar and other parties. We are conducting a "fit-and-proper test".

In another development, Abdurrahman Wahid, Chairman of Nahdatul Ulama (NU) Supervisory Board and Chief Advisor of Partai Demokrasi Perjuangan (PDIP) Taufik Kiemas had agreed to conduct a "Second Ciganjur Meeting" between NU and PDIP to set up Presidential Election 2009 strategy.

Mubarok: Jusuf Kalla may not be the running mate of President SBY in 2009 Election

Vice Chairman of the Democratic Party of Indonesia ( PD-Partai Demokrat) Mr. Ahmad Mubarok said during the party’s National Convention held in Jakarta on Monday, February 9, 2009, that current Vice Presiden Jusuf Kalla may not be President SBY’s partner for the period of 2009-2014 as Vice President, because there are other potential Vice Presidents, such as Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid, currently as the Chairman of the Indonesian Consultative Assembly.

This could happen if during the coming Legislative Election, GOLKAR Party cannot secure a majority seats at the new Indonesian Parliament as in 2004. He gave example that Golkar may only got 2.5% vote, while the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS - the party supporting Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid) got a 20% vote, and the Partai Demokrat got 20% vote, then for sure President SBY will choose Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid as his running mate for his Vice Presidential Candidate for June 9, 2009 Presidential Election.

Commenting on this remark, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that Partai Demokrat should not underestimate Partai GOLKAR for its strength covering all of Indonesian regions. It has had a long root of loyal supporters througout Indonesia.