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Questions arise on which party Kalla represents
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla still holds Golkar Party membership
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ormer vice president Jusuf Kalla still holds Golkar Party membership. He is also a former chairman of the party. However, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has its own way of viewing Kalla's political status.
"Many have asked me, what is Pak Kalla's political party really?" PDI-P secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo said during a luncheon at the residence of the party's chairwoman, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in Jakarta on Monday.
Kalla, who has officially been named the running mate of the PDI-P's presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, smiled upon hearing such a question.
"We discussed this matter until 1 a.m., early in the morning, right here," Tjahjo said.
"We eventually concluded that Pak Kalla represents four parties: the PDI-P, the NasDem Party, the PKB [National Awakening Party], and the Hanura Party," he went on, to the amusement of the audience, which included Megawati and Jokowi, as well as Kalla himself.
NasDem, the PKB and Hanura are currently members of the PDI-P alliance that supports the Jokowi-Kalla presidential ticket.
Tjahjo's joke was seen as an allusion to Golkar, which failed to join the coalition, even after its chairman Aburizal Bakrie went to Megawati's house on Sunday night in a final bid to lobby the former president.
