Susilo to name Jusuf Kalla as running mate

Susilo to name Jusuf Kalla as running mate

Sri Wahyuni and Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Makassar

Leading Presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono revealed
on Saturday that he would choose Coordinating Minister for
People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla as his running mate for the July 5
election, making him the first to name a vice presidential
candidate.

Susilo said Jusuf Kalla, one of six top Golkar figures vying
for the party's presidential slot during Tuesday's convention,
had agreed to become his vice presidential candidate in the
country's first-ever direct presidential election.

"Insya Allah (God willing) I will team up with him (Jusuf
Kalla)," Susilo said in Yogyakarta on Saturday.

Jusuf Kalla could not be reached for comment on Saturday, but
in an interview with Elshinta radio station on Saturday, the
minister revealed that he would announce on Sunday that he would
pull out of the Golkar Convention and the Cabinet.

"Tomorrow, I will announce my decision," Jusuf Kalla said,
adding that his resignation from the Cabinet was mandatory under
the election law.

Press reports said earlier that he would withdraw from the
Golkar Convention and run for the vice presidential post in the
July 5 election under the Democrat Party's flag.

Recent opinion polls showed that Susilo, the presidential
candidate to be nominated by the Democrat Party, and Jusuf Kalla
topped the list of presidential and vice presidential pairs.

A survey conducted by Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated from April 10
to 14 revealed that 43 percent of 5,000 respondents nationwide
would vote for Susilo, compared to incumbent President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's with a meager 20.5 percent. For the vice
presidential seat, Jusuf Kalla got 20.5 percent, compared to the
leader of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Hidayat Nurwahid's
15.78 percent.

"I have met Pak Jusuf Kalla ... and we have the same
commitment and ideas on how to establish a more effective
government that can settle problems facing the country in the
next five years," Susilo said.

Separately, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung shrugged off the
planned resignation of Jusuf Kalla from the party convention,
saying it would not make any difference.

"There is no problem if he wants to quit the convention. It's
his right," Akbar, one of the party's presidential hopefuls, said
in Makassar, South Sulawesi on Saturday.

He, however, emphasized that Jusuf Kalla's nomination as vice
presidential candidate from the Democrat Party did not represent
Golkar.

Akbar said Golkar's final candidates would be chosen in the
April 20 convention, Tuesday.

"If Jusuf Kalla wants to run with Susilo, it's his right. But
he is not Golkar's candidate because the official candidate will
be decided in the convention," he said.

He expressed optimism that Golkar would still get strong
support from South Sulawesi even though Jusuf Kalla, a successful
businessman from the province, is effectively turning his back on
the party and its convention.

Meanwhile, the reeling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P) announced on Saturday that it had picked two names on a
shortlist for Megawati's running mate in the July 5 presidential
election.

PDI-P deputy secretary-general Pramono Anung said Megawati
already had the two names but declined to reveal them.

Speculation was rife that Megawati, whose party garnered only
19.57 percent of over 90 million votes counted in the provisional
tally of the legislative election, down from around 34 percent in
1999 election, had tabbed Jusuf Kalla or United Development Party
(PPP) leader and current vice president Hamzah Haz as her running
mate.