"Frankly speaking, I am keen to serve the state through the MPR. I had also been a minister in the past. I feel that I have adequately served the nation through the executive branch of the government. Now, let me be in the legislative branch," he noted on Tuesday evening.
However, further discussions on matters pertaining to the cabinet line-up issue had yet to be held with incumbent President and President-elect Joko Widodo (Jokowi), he informed journalists after attending an event for promoting his party's congress here.
For the PKB, the names of the party's cadres and those outside the party could be proposed for holding several ministerial posts of the president-elect's cabinet as long as they were capable and met the nation's requirements, he stated.
Despite the fact that the PKB can nominate and propose its candidates, it was the president-elect, who will ultimately decide on those to be his cabinet members, Iskandar explained.
Speaking in connection with the cabinet line-up issue, PKB politician Daniel Johan earlier noted that Iskandar had put forth the names of 10 of the party's cadres to Jokowi but he was not aware of those, who had been nominated to sit in the president-elect's cabinet.
The names put forth by Iskandar to Jokowi were different from those who might have been proposed by the Nahdlatul Ulama's (NU's) Central Executive Board despite the fact that the real supporters of both PKB and NU were relatively similar.
In response to this cabinet line-up issue, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) clarified that it had no objection to the National Democratic Party's (Nasdem's) and PKB's demands for a specific 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 remarked, adding that as a main supporter of the Jokowi-Amin pair, the PDIP will support Jokowi's decision.
It will not intervene in the rights and sovereignty of the Jokowi-Amin pair's coalition parties over cabinet line-up issues, according to the PDIP.
However, as the president-elect, it was Jokowi's prerogative to select and determine figures who he picks in his cabinet, and all coalition parties could merely put forth their suggestions. The PDIP will not beg for ministerial posts, he affirmed. EDITED BY INE
Translator: Wisnu AN, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Eliswan Azly
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
