SBY Calls PKS Fuel Price Opposition "Unethical"

A Prosperous Justice Party-sponsored banner hangs near the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on June 12, 2013. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono fired back at coalition partners the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) on Thursday, calling the party’s opposition to the government’s planned fuel subsidy cuts “unethical,” according to one official.

“I am only expressing what he expressed, that it is unethical and not nice,” State Secretary Minister Sudi Silalahi told reporters at the Halim Perdanakusumh Airport in East Jakarta. “Even more so because this is by a political party that is part of the coalition.”

The PKS, a member of Yudhoyono’s six-party coalition, has riled the ruling party by rejecting proposed cuts to Indonesia’s costly fuel subsidies. The Islamist party, fresh off a series of high-profile corruption cases, has taken a vocal stance against the price hikes, hanging banners urging protests and threatening to drop out of the coalition all together.

Sudi accused the PKS of making an about-face on the matter after members expressed support in prior meetings. The Democrats called the PKS opposition “dirty politics” and refused to invite faction members to a recent cabinet meeting with Yudhoyono.

The president, Sudi said, will let the people make up their own minds about the PKS’ stance.

“The president is leaving it to the people to make their own assessment, but it is actually improper, even more so because it was done by a political party within the coalition,” Sudi said after a meeting with Yudhoyono.

The coalition’s joint secretariat will reach out to PKS faction members in the coming days, Sudi said, declining to give any other details.

Previous efforts to raise the price of subsidized fuel were scuttled in the House after days of chaotic protests paralyzed portions of Central Jakarta. Coalition members Golkar Party joined the PKS in opposing last years proposed price hikes.

Golkar chairman and presidential hopeful Aburizal Bakrie has thrown his support behind the most recent plan after a meeting with Yudhoyono. The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) have both spoken out against the subsidy cuts.

Yudhoyono’s Democrats often rely on a broad coalition of nationalist and Islamic parties to push policy through the House. The coalition holds 73 percent of the seats in the House, but the parties’ diverse ideologies demand a delicate dance from the Democratic Party when drafting policy.

The president was firm in his stance on Wednesday, explaining that a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report linked Indonesia’s widening deficit with the fuel subsidies. He called the cuts a “rational” decision and accused critics of failing to understand the issue.

“[They] don’t understand that we’re having fiscal problems,” Yudhoyono said. “There is reason behind [the decision] to decrease the subsidy. We have to be a rational nation.”

The price of subsidized fuel would increase 44 percent, to Rp 6,500 ($0.65) a liter, under the proposed subsidy cuts. The government plans to move on the plan after the June 17 vote on the revised 2013 state budget.

SBY Calls PKS Fuel Price Opposition "Unethical"