Erwida Maulia and Adianto P. Simamora, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Tue, 04/14/2009 9:23 AM
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met Monday with Golkar Party leader Jusuf Kalla for much-anticipated talks that many say could hold the key to the incumbent’s bid for a second straight term in office.
Kalla arrived at Yudhoyono’s private residence in Cikeas, near Bogor, at 10 p.m. and left 45 minutes later without speaking to reporters. No official statement came from either side regarding the substance of the closed-door talks.
The meeting came on the heels of an internal rift within Golkar concerning Kalla’s bid to challenge Yudhoyono in the presidential election in July.
Golkar’s entry to the coalition led by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party had been widely anticipated, after a number of quick counts revealed Golkar would finish a distant second or third behind the triumphant Democratic Party.
Kalla, who announced his bid for the presidency following pressure from Golkar's provincial branches, had earlier touted the formation of the so-called Golden Triangle political bloc that would see it teaming up with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the United Development Party (PPP).
In response to the move, the Democratic Party hinted at forming its own alliance, the Golden Bridge, with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) — all Islamic-based parties.
Hours before the Yudhoyono-Kalla meeting, senior Golkar politician and justice minister Andi
Mattalatta said Kalla's presidential bid could run out of steam before the July polls, with the party looking likely to fail to meet its pre-election target of securing 20 percent of votes.
Under the 2008 law on presidential elections, only parties or coalitions that garner at least 20 percent of votes in the legislative elections can nominate a presidential candidate.
"Now that our votes look certain to miss the 20 percent threshold, there should be of course realistic moves," Andi said after a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace.
"But the problem is, we don't know what's in the heads of our friends in the regions."
He added he believed Golkar should only join a coalition with parties that fulfilled a set of criteria, including a capability to ensure stability both in the government and in the House of Representatives.
But Golkar’s incorporation into the Yudhoyono-led coalition has met with resistance from the PKS.
The party has vowed to quit the coalition and join the opposition camp should Golkar be part of the coalition once again.
"SBY and JK are irreconcilable, as each of them follows their own directions," PKS deputy secretary-general Fahri Hamzah said Monday.
He added the party had warned Yudhoyono it would pull out of the coalition.
Fahri said Golkar's entry would bring about no change to the future government.
"We're aiming to improve the government under a new coalition of reform parties," he said. (naf)
