TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jokowi, Kalla are fine, says Luhut
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo talks with Vice President Jusuf Kalla on the sidelines of a limited Cabinet meeting at the State Palace on March 29. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
R
esponding to rumors of disharmony between President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, senior Golkar Party politician and senior Cabinet member Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that relations between the two were "definitely fine."
Speculation of tensions between the two has escalated following the revelation that Kalla, also a Golkar politician, had aided the nomination of former education minister Anies Baswedan, who later trumped non-active Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama in the Jakarta gubernatorial election.
Ahok was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which is also Jokowi's party, and Golkar.
"Many people ask me about what happened [between Jokowi and Kalla]. I can assure that Jokowi and Kalla are fine," Luhut said on Sunday. "As a Javanese, Jokowi was able to embrace people who are more senior than him."
(Read also: Jokowi, Kalla attend press conference together amid rumors of a rift)
Luhut was speaking in front of around 650 Golkar members and party executives during a rapimnas (national leadership meeting) in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
Jokowi, he said, is a firm president. "I have met so many commanders, some of them are firm, some are not. But Jokowi is a firm one, he always stands by his decision and he never changes," Luhut said. (wit)
