PD PROPOSES CABINET 'RESHUFFLE' TO PRESIDENT

Jakarta, Feb 6 (ANTARA) - Leaders of the Democratic Party (PD) have proposed to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (PD chief patron) that he should reshuffle his ministers of coalition parties which are no longer in line with the government.

PD Secretary General Amir Syamsuddin said here on Friday that the proposal was made when he and two other PD leaders, namely Anas Urbaningrum and Muhammad Jafar Hafsah met the president on Thursday.

Ans Urbaningrum is a PD associate chairman/chairman of the PD faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) and Muhammad Jafar Hafsah is also a PD associate chairman/deputy chairman of DPR's Commission IV for food, agriculture and fisheries.

"We met the president on Thursday to report the developments of the Bank Century case and other developments," Syamsuddin said.

On the occasion, Syamsuddin said, he proposed the possibility of reshuffling ministers of coalition parties which were no longer in line with the Democratic Party.

Syamsuddin said that on the occasion the president said: "... will consider it as well as possible."
Syamsuddin explained that the president was firm and looked happy with the report and input submitted by the PD leaders.

"Pak (Sir) SBY gestured with calmness and politeness that he could be firm," Syamsuddin said.

In the meantime, Mukhammad Misbakhun, a DPR member of the Prosperous Justic Party (PKS) faction, asked that PD should not mix the position of a minister in the cabinet and that of a House faction members, even though they were in the same coalition of parties supporting the government.

He said that ministers in the cabinet carried out tasks based on the president's policies while members of parliament carried out the tasks based on the political parties' policies.

"Political parties have their own visions, missions and programs, despite the fact that they are grouped in the coalition," he said.

Syamsuddin said that in the government coalition, members of parliament, who derived from the coalition parties, were mutually inter-related so that the attitude of a parliament member could influence the existence of a minister in the cabinet.

"If it has nothing to do with the cabinet, what is the use to form a coalition," he added.