Paras Indonesia, October, 20 2005 @ 04:03 am
Kalla Denies Planning To Run For President
With President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono receiving generally positive assessments
of his first year in office, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has emphatically denied a report
that he intends to run for the presidency in 2009.
A report by Agence France-Presse on Wednesday (19/10/05) said Kalla had told
state news agency Antara that he will run for the presidency as a candidate of Golkar,
the country's largest political party.
The report said Kalla (63), a powerful businessman, has had a stronger political base
than Yudhoyono (56) since becoming chairman of Golkar last December. Yudhoyono
is backed by the Democrat Party, which came fifth in last year's general election.
"As a Golkar cadre, I have the rights to be elected and I will put my candidacy forward
with the consent of the president. It will be impossible without the president's
consent," Kalla was quoted as telling Antara in an interview on Tuesday.
The report said Kalla dismissed speculation that his relationship with Yudhoyono had
become strained since they took office on October 20, 2004, after a landslide victory
over former president Megawati Sukarnoputri and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi.
"Remain assured that I want to undertake my stately duties seriously," he said.
Kalla said the AFP report had misconstrued his comments. He claimed he had
actually stated that he would be willing to run for the chairmanship of Golkar, not the
presidency, in 2009.
"Once again, as I have already clarified with Antara news agency, that is not at all
true," he told reporters at a fast-breaking event at the vice presidential palace in
Central Jakarta.
"Regarding the question about Golkar, I said I am the chairman of Golkar. With the
president's permission, I would contest the Golkar chairmanship in 2009. That is
really quite different," he said.
In fact, most of the interview was about the rumors of poor relations between
Yudhoyono and Kalla. After insisting that everything was all right, Kalla was then
asked whether the composition of the national leadership would remain intact until
2009. He replied that it was his "constitutional duty".
The next question posed to Kalla was: "Is Bapak (Sir) convinced he will be 'be safe' up
until 2009?". Kalla's reply was: "God-willing, with prayer. I want to reiterate: As
Golkar, that is my duty. As a Golkar cadre, I have the right to be elected and put
myself forward. And I cannot advance without the president's permission."
Two slightly different versions of the Antara interview can be read online. The first is via
detikcom, which says it obtained a transcript of the interview from a recording from the
palace. The second is Antara's clarification of the interview, which contains editorial
notes in parentheses just ensure that everyone knows Kalla was talking about the
Golkar leadership and not the presidency:
"I have the right to be elected (as Golkar General Chairman in the Golkar National
Congress in Bali December 2004, ed) and I put forward myself (as the candidate
Golkar General Chairman at that time) but also with the President's permission, it was
not possible without the President's permission."
Yudhoyono and Kalla both served as senior ministers in Megawati's cabinet but
resigned ahead of last year's two-round presidential election. Less than two weeks
before his resignation, Yudhoyono had complained to the media that he was being
sidelined from key cabinet meetings. Megawati's businessman husband Taufik
Kiemas responded by saying Yudhoyono was being "childish". Nine days later,
Yudhoyono submitted his resignation and his public popularity soared.
The two put aside their enmity last month at a meeting in Palembang, South Sumatra
province, with Yudhoyono praising Kiemas as a national figure who had done much to
promote development. More recently, Yudhoyono on Tuesday visited Kiemas at
Jakarta's Harapan Kita Cardiac Hospital, where the latter is being treated for heart
trouble. Despite patching up his differences with Kiemas, Yudhoyono has not yet
been able to reconcile with Megawati. She has pointedly refused to meet with him
since losing the presidency.
Copyright (c) 2005 - PT Laksamana Global International. All rights reserved
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