"Look at Japanese trains, *they are* fast but safe. What about ours? Slow but with many accidents," Jusuf Kalla once said when justifying his campaigning tag "the faster the better".
Kalla was undoubtedly a quick thinker in the decision-making process, especially when it came to economic and peace matters.
His main achievement was the signing of the Aceh peace agreement to end the civil war, which began ravaging the province in 1976.
On behalf of the President, Kalla deployed an Indonesian delegation to the peace talks mediated by the former president of Finland.
Due to such achievements and his role in resolving sectarian conflicts in Poso, Ambon and Aceh, the former chairman of Muhammadiyah Syafaii Ma'rif dubbed Kalla as the "real President".
Despite actions that were often more akin to a president rather than vice president, Kalla said he was the real Vice President who worked to help President safeguard government policies.
Yudhoyono and Kalla were elected in the country's first direct presidential election in 2004, defeating former boss Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Kalla strengthened his position in the government following his success in taking the top post in the Golkar Party from Akbar Tanjung in the same year.
With his stronger bargaining position, Kalla's Golkar demanded President Yudhoyono reshuffle his cabinet several times, awarding more ministerial posts to the Golkar officials.
The tumultuous relationship between Yudhoyono and Kalla hit its peak when Kalla announced his intention to contend SBY in the recent presidential election.
Political expert from the University of Indonesia, Lili Romli, praised Kalla for his achievements in economic fields and as a peace broker in several areas, thanks to his guts in making decisions.
"He has the courage to seek breakthroughs and then make decisions quickly. He is the rarest of vice presidents due to his active role in the government," he said.
"But he is too straightforward, which may have been detrimental for his popularity."
Lili noted that Kalla had poor success within Golkar because much of his time was spent supporting Yu-dhoyono's government.
He said that Kalla's non-Javanese background had further weakened his chances in the presidential race.
Lili said Kalla's strength in decision-making would be hard to be match in the next government.
Aside from his quick mind, Lili said that Kalla was also very open to any questions during his daily meetings with people or journalists.
Kalla often came up "fresh" jokes in his speeches, which frequently raised scepticism among observers of his seriousness in contending the presidential election.
In response, Kalla only said "I like making jokes, but when it comes to managing the country, I always talk with all my heart".
Born in South Sulawesi in 1942, Kalla become the CEO of family enterprise NV Hadji Kalla in 1968 after graduating from Hasanuddin University.
Kalla then expanded his business from export and imports to hotels, construction, car dealerships, bridges, shipping, real estate, transportation, shrimp farms, palm oil and telecommunications.
After graduating from INSEAD, an international business school based in Fontainebleau, south of Paris, in 1977, Kalla led the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) in South Sulawesi chapter while spending most of his time on thefamily business.
As he ended his term, Kalla said he would return to Makassar but would still continue his role as peacebroker to settle sectarian conflicts in the future.
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