Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Negotiation in Politics

At the outset, I should make a disclaimer. I'm not a political scientist and also not a very good observer of politics.

It appears to me, political parties are preparing themselves to grab the opportunity of cabinet "reshuffle". But among all the parties, I think what PKS has been demonstrating is better than any other.

I always think that politics is about bargaining. You support somebody for a return -- or if you don't like that word, change it to "specific, pre-defined objectives". So, it really is not something surprising to read moves like this. (The account tells how PKS clearly stated their demand to the president). And that's what I think what politics should be.

On the contrary, I think this kind of move is strange. Note the statement given by a politician from another party. On the forming of some coalition that excludes PKS, the former ally of that group, he says, "... We exclude PKS, because it has crossed polite political ethics..." By that he means, because PKS has demanded certain positions, explicitly. Now I'm confused. Why demanding a position in return for a support in political arena is called unethical? If it is unethical, what are those other parties aiming for? Let's wait how long can we have these other parties' words. Experience says, don't trust them.

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