Yudhoyono-Kalla deemed Indonesia's most dynamic leadership duo yet

Adianto P. Simamora ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 10/22/2009 12:06 PM  |  Headlines

With their up-and-down relations, the presidential pair of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla has been deemed the most dynamic leadership duo in the country's presidential history, thanks to former vice president Kalla's maneuvers, quick thinking and guts to make decisions, experts say.

Kalla, who ended his term Tuesday, was more courageous in making decisions than Adam Malik, the second vice president under former president Soeharto, they said.

Reform Institute executive director Yudi Latif said each of the vice presidents had their own leadership styles, but Kalla alone had acted as an "activist" vice president.

"The ideal vice president should be semi-'activist' depending on the situation, but must aware of the limit of their responsibilities and not overtake the president's position," he said.

From the time of Sukarno's rule, through to that of his daughter, Megawati Soekarnoputri, all vice presidents had acted merely as "spare tires" for their bosses -waiting for orders before acting, he said.

"There is nothing wrong with this, but since Indonesia experiences a lot of unexpected situations such as natural disasters, a vice president needs to be able to act as an executor," Yudi said.

So far, Indonesia has seen 11 people elected (directly or otherwise) as vice presidents, under the administrations of Sukarno, Soeharto, B.J Habibie, Abdur-rahman Wahid, Megawati and Yudhoyono.

Sukarno only had one vice president, Mohammad Hatta, while Soeharto had the most, with six during his 32-year reign.

Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, Adam Malik, Umar Wirahadikusumah, Sudharmono, Try Sutrisno and Habibie all served under Soeharto's successive administrations.

Habibie was the only president not accompanied by a vice president, after he took over the presidency from Soeharto.

A political expert from the University of Indonesia, Andrinof Chaniago, said all vice presidents under Soeharto's presidency were loyalists who had to await orders before taking action.

"Vice presidents were like *spare tires' rather than counterparts for Soeharto," he said.

"It was only Malik who had the courage to speak to the public without permission from Soeharto."

Malik was a former journalist before receiving a diplomatic position.

"Soeharto seemed dissatisfied with Malik. He then selected loyalist Umar as his vice president," Andrinof said.

But Andrinof said the dynamic style Kalla had demonstrated was not because of his position as then chairman of the Golkar Party.

"It is Kalla's personal style to be dynamic," he said.

In his inauguration speech Tuesday, Yudhoyono thanked Kalla for his service in the last five years, saying it would be remembered by the nation.

Yudi and Andrinof said it was unlikely Boediono would make swift decisions.

"There must be a clear job description for what Boediono can do in government," Yudi said.

Yudi said Boediono's low bargaining power could be seen as there were no ministerial candidates linked to Boediono in the Cabinet lineup.

Another analyst, Maswadi Rauf, said Boediono was not the kind of person who had the courage to make bold moves.

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