Newly re-elected president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is riding a wave of popularity in Indonesia - so much so that some members of the parties of both of his defeated election rivals have proposed joining his camp.
That is a prospect that worries some observers who fear for the long-term prospects of Indonesian democracy without a strong opposition. Syamsuddin Haris, an analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said that if Jusuf Kalla's Golkar party and Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) joined the government, political development would be set back.
'The function of opposition power would be lost. A president without opposition would mean an authoritarian system,' he said.
The country's first directly elected president in 2004, Dr Yudhoyono decisively won re-election in July with over 60 per cent of the vote.
That victory came on the heels of his Democrat Party's success in the April legislative election where it picked up over 20 per cent of the national vote.
The DP is now the country's largest party in parliament with roughly 150 out of 560 seats. Together with its coalition partners, it will control 56 per cent of seats.
