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Kalla re-elected as PMI chairman

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has been re-elected as the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) for a second term from 2015 to 2019 at the organization’s 20th national congress, defeating Golkar Party deputy chief Sri Hediati Haryadi, also known as Titiek Soeharto, the daughter of former president Soeharto

The Jakarta Post
Fri, December 19, 2014

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Kalla re-elected as PMI chairman

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ice President Jusuf Kalla has been re-elected as the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) for a second term from 2015 to 2019 at the organization'€™s 20th national congress, defeating Golkar Party deputy chief Sri Hediati Haryadi, also known as Titiek Soeharto, the daughter of former president Soeharto.

Kalla was elected for the second time after managing to nab 247 votes out of a total of 418 votes cast during the congress. Titiek, meanwhile, received 170 votes. One vote remained abstain.

Kalla is the joint highest-ranking active government official ever to serve as PMI chairman.

His only equal is Mohammad Hatta, who led the humanitarian organization while also serving as vice president in 1945.

Since then, the post has mostly been occupied by former ministers, including former energy and mineral resources minister Ibnu Sutowo, former social affairs minister Siti Hardianti Rukmana, who is Titiek'€™s older sister, and former finance minister Mar'€™ie Muhammad.

Kalla said that the re-election in fact constituted a heavy burden on his shoulders, as he will have to carry out the double duties of vice president and PMI chairman.

'€œI actually wanted to focus on carrying out state duties. [But] for the sake of the continuity of programs and so that the PMI does not become fragmented from short-term politics, I accept this inauguration wholeheartedly yet with a heavy heart,'€ he said during the closing of the congress in Jakarta on Thursday.

He was referring to the fact that his rival Titiek was from Golkar, the leader of the opposition Red-and-White Coalition.

Kalla revealed that following his inauguration, he would form a team to establish the board of the PMI for 2015-2019.

'€œThe management system is different from the past. Those who have more time than me will get bigger mandates,'€ he said, hinting that he would play a smaller role in the organization than before.

Kalla himself previously said in September that he would step down from the chairmanship to focus on being Vice President.

Under Kalla'€™s tenure, the PMI has been involved in 875 missions to help victims of natural disasters at home and abroad. Among the missions were the Mount Merapi eruption; a flood in Wasior, West Papua; a tsunami in Japan; Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines; and an ethnic-based conflict in Myanmar.

Despite losing, Titiek put up a formidable fight, with her supporters demanding the voting be postponed in order to give Kalla time to lay out his vision and mission to the congress.

The plea was rejected, with the head of the congress, Muhammad Muas, stating that as the incumbent, Kalla'€™s track record was already known to everyone within the organization.

National University (Unas) sociology expert Sigit Rochadi said that while the law did not forbid the vice president from running a humanitarian organization, it was unethical for Kalla to do so.

'€œThe president and vice president are national symbols. It is therefore not right for him [to remain as PMI chairman], even though it is only a humanitarian organization,'€ he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

'€” JP/Hans Nicholas Jong

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