Kalla, for president? No thanks<\/p>\n
John McBeth, The Straits Times, Asia News Network\/Singapore<\/p>\n
Just for a moment there, it seemed like almost the unthinkable
\nhad happened. In a translated interview with the state-run Antara
\nnews agency, Indonesian Vice-President and Golkar party chairman
\nJusuf Kalla announced that he would run for the Indonesian
\npresidency in 2009.<\/p>\n
Even by his mercurial standards, it seemed a strange time to
\nmake such an announcement as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
\nhad four more years of his term left.<\/p>\n
It took some hours, but it finally emerged that Indonesian
\nreporters working for Agence France-Presse had misinterpreted
\nwhat Jusuf had said. In a measure of the often imprecise nature
\nof the Indonesian language and the Vice-President's own jerky
\nmanner of speaking, he had not been discussing the presidency but
\nhis successful bid last December for leadership of Golkar.<\/p>\n
But imagine, just for a moment, how that would have changed
\nthe political dynamics and provided more fuel for the already
\nrampant, but still entirely unsubstantiated, reports of a rivalry
\nbetween the two leaders?<\/p>\n
And who would President Susilo have turned to for his new
\nrunning mate if he were to seek a second term?<\/p>\n
The use of the word \"rivalry\" implies that Jusuf does have his
\neyes on the presidency in 2009. But does he really?<\/p>\n
Javanese politicians almost chuckle over the prospect.
\nAlthough the 63-year-old South Sulawesi-born businessman has a
\nfar stronger political base than President Susilo, that counts
\nfor little in any direct presidential election where Java
\naccounts for 60 per cent of eligible voters.<\/p>\n
Political analysts say that for all the progress Indonesia has
\nmade towards democratization, a non-Javanese has no real hope of
\ncapturing the nation's highest office -- not yet, anyway. And
\nJusuf knows that better than anyone.<\/p>\n
\"In the United States, it took 200 years for a Southerner to
\nbecome president,\" he pointed out in an interview in the Oct. 24
\nissue of Tempo newsweekly. \"So it's not easy for a Bugis
\n(Sulawesi native) like me to become president. There was Habibie,
\nbut that was an accident.\"<\/p>\n
In fact, former vice-president B.J. Habibie, born in Pare Pare
\non Sulawesi's west coast, only became president when the long-
\nserving Soeharto resigned in 1998.<\/p>\n
Seventeen months later, Habibie failed to win even the Golkar
\nnomination. Most pundits put that down to his previous close ties
\nwith Soeharto (who incidentally still adamantly refuses to see
\nhim). But Sulawesi party faithful preferred to pin the blame on
\nparty chairman Akbar Tandjung, a North Sumatran with strong
\nJavanese ties, for undermining his chances.<\/p>\n
And now Akbar is effectively out in the cold too. But Jusuf
\nonly ousted him from the party chairmanship last December because
\nSusilo prevailed on his Vice-President to help in shoring up his
\nsupport in Parliament. Akbar had wanted to take Golkar into the
\nopposition camp with former presidents Megawati Soekarnoputri and
\nAbdurrahman Wahid.<\/p>\n
For the rank-and-file in Golkar, a party which has always
\nruled, that was not an option -- even if it did mean choosing a
\nleader from among the minorities.<\/p>\n
There was even a Sulawesi connection that brought Jusuf and
\nSusilo together in the first place. According to most accounts,
\nthat introductory role was played by Environment Minister Rachmat
\nWitoelar, whose wife Erna -- a former human settlements minister
\nand current UN special envoy for Millennium Development Goals in
\nAsia and the Pacific -- is a member of Sulawesi's prestigious
\nWalinono family.<\/p>\n
Witoelar, a regular Jusuf golf partner and former Golkar
\nsecretary-general, was one of Susilo's senior political advisers
\nduring last year's presidential campaign.<\/p>\n
So what of this high-level rivalry? As far back as January,
\nIndonesian newspapers were reporting that the rift had reached a
\n\"critical stage\" -- whatever that meant. But in February, Jusuf
\nwas telling interviewers that the talk was all nonsense.<\/p>\n
Now, as the administration marks its first year in office,
\nJusuf is tired of having to answer the same question from
\njournalists who cannot seem to understand that differences of
\nopinion between two very different people are, well, perfectly
\nnormal.<\/p>\n
Some ministers who have watched the two in action believe
\nthose differences may even be healthy -- Susilo, with his
\npenchant for thinking things through and trying to come up with
\nthe perfect solution; Jusuf, with the instincts of a trader who
\nwillingly acknowledges he sometimes gets ahead of himself and the
\nPresident.<\/p>\n
\"If we had the same characteristics, this country would be in
\ndanger,\" he told Tempo. \"If both of us were quick to act, we
\nwould be issuing hundreds of licensees. So, the combination
\nbetween us is good.\"<\/p>\n
Last month, Susilo seemed to tire of the speculation as well.
\nThis time, it centered on his controversial decision to hold
\nvideo conferences with his ministers while he was on a visit to
\nthe US.<\/p>\n
To many commentators, that was because he feared Jusuf would
\nact unilaterally over the politically sensitive oil price issue.<\/p>\n
\"It's wrong to say I don't have confidence in my Vice-
\nPresident,\" he told reporters, noting that as far as he was
\nconcerned, the relationship was \"very harmonious\".<\/p>\n
Most of the more recent rumors did stem, in fact, from the
\nagonizing that went on in the government over how much to reduce
\noil subsidies by. It is well known that the President took a long
\ntime trying to calculate the political fallout from raising the
\nprice of benchmark premium petrol by 50 per cent, or taking the
\nadvice of Jusuf and Economic Coordinating Minister Aburizal
\nBakrie and going for an 80-90 per cent increase.<\/p>\n
In the end, he opted for the high end, but only after putting
\nin place a Rp 4.6 trillion (S$775 million) program to give Rp
\n100,000 a month to 15.6 million of the country's poorest families
\nfor the rest of the year. That idea, according to well-placed
\nCabinet sources, came from the high-energy Vice-President
\nhimself, even if he is not claiming credit for it.<\/p>\n
From the beginning, Jusuf was always going to have a much more
\nconstructive role in government than most of his predecessors.<\/p>\n
The way he explains it, his role was to be a \"chief of staff\",
\nwith Susilo focusing on strategy and the vision thing, and the
\nVice-President taking care of technical matters. The two leaders
\nstill talk on the phone every day, just as they have from day one
\nof the administration.<\/p>\n
But Jusuf understands that this is not about sharing power in
\na system where the real authority is vested in only one person --
\na directly elected president.<\/p>\n
\"I have always stressed that to build this country, we need to
\nwork together,\" he had told Tempo. \"The President is supreme, his
\nword is final. If he makes a wrong statement, no one can correct
\nhim. If I make a wrong statement, the President can correct me.
\nBut every statement that I make has been previously discussed
\nwith him.\"<\/p>\n
Jusuf even has a ready answer for why it was decided not to
\nmove his office across Central Jakarta's Merdeka Square to the
\nPresidential Palace -- a change in plans seen as further evidence
\nof the rocky relationship at the top. As it turned out, the
\nbuilding he was to move into, previously the office of Soeharto's
\nSupreme Advisory Council, was deemed to be too close to the
\nstreet.<\/p>\n
\"A bomb,\" he said, \"would blow it sky high. We would have had
\nto erect a fence as solid as the one around the Australian
\nEmbassy.\"<\/p>\n
Like many of his fellow Bugis -- seafarers who have migrated
\nacross Indonesia more than any other ethnic group -- Jusuf
\napparently finds fences far too confining.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kalla-for-president-no-thanks-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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