Kalla to resign,says ready to be Susilo's running mate
Tiarma Siboro and Nana RukmanaB, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Cirebon
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla announced on Sunday his intention to resign from the Cabinet to enable him to make a bid for the vice presidency.
His exit will allow him to contest the July 5 election alongside Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, following his withdrawal on Sunday from the Golkar Party convention, due to select its presidential candidate.
Kalla said he would formally announce his resignation to President Megawati Soekarnoputri next week.
Retired Army general Susilo relinquished his post as the coordinating minister for political and security affairs after a rift with Megawati early last month, enabling him to campaign for the Democratic Party he helped found. The party has fared impressively so far in its debut election, ranked fifth in the provisional results.
"I will officially tender my resignation to the President soon after everything is ready for me," Kalla said. However, he has already moved from his official residence on Jl. Denpasar Raya to his private house in Kebayoran Baru, both in South Jakarta.
Kalla said he was leaving the Cabinet in compliance with a presidential decree requiring government officials to resign if they contest the presidential election.
Political parties must register their presidential candidate between May 1 and May 7.
Meanwhile, Susilo said his decision to pick Kalla as his running mate for the presidential election was based on an assessment that his former colleague in the Cabinet was "cooperative and shares a similar commitment to building the future government".
Susilo, however, said Kalla's move to his camp would not necessarily augur a coalition between the Democratic Party and Golkar.
"Both I and Pak Kalla need to intensify our communications, and it is too premature to talk about a coalition (with Golkar). Should we consider a coalition, the leaders of the two parties would be involved," Susilo said in Cirebon, West Java.
Kalla said his candidacy via the Democratic Party was a personal commitment and he would not quit Golkar.
"As a Golkar Party leader, I did my best in the recent legislative election. I campaigned for the party in 26 provinces and visited nearly 22 towns nationwide to win votes for Golkar.
"I also secured votes from 250 of Golkar's regental branches, mostly in eastern Indonesia and Sumatra, while participating in the convention. Now it's time to prove whether I, as an individual, can win sympathy from the public," Kalla said.
Analyst Saiful Mujani, from the Freedom Institute, said that Kalla's resignation from the Cabinet would have a political impact upon Megawati's performance in the upcoming presidential election because Kalla's maneuver, to some extent, indicated "the President is no longer attractive".
Saiful added the pairing of Susilo and Kalla should be considered formidable competition for Megawati, who is also the leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and also for Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung.
"Kalla's move to Susilo's camp will represent an ideal combination of Java and non-Java, military and civilian, and nationalist and Muslim," Saiful told The Jakarta Post.