RPT-Indonesia party eyes death for graft; mine contracts

(Repeats story sent late on Monday, with no changes to text)

By Sunanda Creagh

JAKARTA, April 13 (Reuters) - An Indonesian Islamist party seen as a likely partner in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's coalition said it wanted energy and mining contracts to be renegotiated and the death penalty imposed in the worst cases of corruption.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has done well in some local elections because of its emphasis on clean governance, but religious minorities in the officially secular but predominantly Muslim country are nervous about the party's Islamist agenda and likely influence on policy-making.

Tifatul Sembiring, chairman of the PKS which won about 8 percent in parliamentary elections last week, said his party may join Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, which won a fifth of the vote, to form a coalition.

That coalition may also include the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN), two small Islamic parties, he told Reuters in an interview, as well as the Golkar Party, giving the bloc a majority of seats in parliament.

The PKS is eyeing as many as five cabinet posts in the next government, up from three in the current alliance, and would push for the renegotiation of key contracts in the resources sector which are unfavourable for Indonesia, Sembiring told Reuters in an interview.

These include a contract to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China from the BP-led (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Tangguh project in Papua, eastern Indonesia, as well as contracts with mining giants Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Newmont Mining Corp (NEM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) of the United States, he said.

Tangguh will produce 7.6 million tonnes per year and has contracts with several companies including China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research).