Kalla consolidates power
Kalla consolidates power
Dean Yates, Reuters/Jakarta
Even before taking over Indonesia's most powerful opposition party on the weekend, Vice-President Jusuf Kalla oozed confidence.
In an interview with Reuters on Nov. 11, Kalla made clear he had torn up the script that for decades confined Indonesian vice- presidents to the ceremonial role of cutting ribbons and entertaining less important state guests.
"This country is just too big for a president to control. I settle the details before the president rules on them. I supervise the ministers," Kalla said.
By winning the chairmanship of the Golkar party, the biggest opposition group in parliament, Kalla is now more than a deputy to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
To some, Kalla has become the president's equal just two months since they took office.
That might work well in forging constructive ties with Indonesia's hostile parliament, but Yudhoyono might have trouble exercising the big mandate he won in Indonesia's first direct presidential election should Kalla disagree with policies.
Former businessman Kalla, 62, has also put himself in a strong position to run for president in 2009 should he want it.
"This could be a political blunder for SBY," said political researcher Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, using Yudhoyono's nickname and referring to his blessing for Kalla to seek the Golkar job.
"For the first time, we have a vice-president who has much political power. He has political power in terms of authority and a political base. His power can be a threat."
Kalla held his post as patron of one of the strongest factions in Golkar despite joining forces with Yudhoyono this year to run in Indonesia's first direct presidential election.
During the Reuters interview, Kalla said that poll meant he had an obligation to be more hands-on than previous deputies, arguing both men were responsible for governance.
Kalla was coordinating minister for people's welfare in the cabinet of ex-President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He has solid Muslim credentials and helped halt religious violence in his home region of Sulawesi a few years ago. He also had a reputation for a dislike of bureaucracy and for trying to find speedy solutions to problems.
Slight of stature and with a pencil-thin moustache, Kalla speaks his mind, reflecting his origin from near the Sulawesi city of Makassar in eastern Indonesia, home to the Buginese ethnic group, noted for their frankness and sea-faring skills.
"In leading an organisation, he is very stern. If something is wrong, he will say so," said Halim Razak, a leading businessman from Makassar who served under Kalla in a local chamber of commerce in the mid-1980s.
"He holds strong religious values, he is very religious."
One of Kalla's top priorities is to rev up economic growth. To do that, he has said Indonesia needs more aggressive fiscal policy to stimulate the economy, putting him at odds with some of the technocratic economic ministers in the cabinet.
But he also has allies after being instrumental in the selection of former conglomerate chief Aburizal Bakrie as chief economics minister. The justice minister is also close to Kalla.
Since taking office, Kalla has rarely been out of the news. He even had a brush with a possible assassination attempt last week after traces of arsenic were found in soup prepared for him during a trip to Bali for the Golkar leadership convention.
Kalla has brushed off the incident, saying it might have been food that had gone off. Police are investigating.
The vice-president comes from a prominent business family that has extensive interests in vehicle distribution, trading and construction. He is married with five children.
REUTERS
GetRTR 3.00 -- DEC 20, 2004 14:19:20