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n a packed meeting room of a five-star hotel in Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla looked back on how relentless he was in pursuing a career in politics.

“I have always chosen a tiered path. When I joined the student board at university, I started from the lowest position before I eventually became the chief,” he said on Thursday, just hours before the first presidential debate, in a public lecture and tribute jointly held by Paramadina University and German political party Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

The evening also saw him receive a lifetime achievement award presented by Paramadina University.

“I applied the same [strategy] in the government. I started as a trade and industry minister, then coordinating minister for people’s welfare, deputy minister, then deputy minister again. But then it stops there,” he added, triggering laughter in the audience.

Kalla, who received his first government appointment in 1999, spoke about his political career path in the administration of presidents Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

Kalla was the vice presidential pick for SBY and incumbent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo during their respective first terms.

During SBY’s presidency, the 74-year-old contributed to, among other things, disaster response management in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami, which then led to the historic 2005 Aceh peace settlement.

The Indonesian defense industry received a significant boost in 2007 when Kalla ordered the purchase of Anoa armored personnel carriers from state weapons manufacturer PT Pindad.

Peace and conflict resolution seemed to be Kalla’s forte as he also organized the Malino peace conference in December 2001 to end the communal conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi, as the coordinating minister for people’s welfare under Megawati.

During Jokowi’s presidency, Kalla helped organize the Trilateral Ulema Meeting between Indonesia, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Bogor, West Java, in May 2018.

Afghanistan had asked Indonesia to host the ulema conference during the Kabul Process in March 2018.

It is safe to say that Kalla has been the face of Indonesian foreign policy for representing Indonesia in various international forums.

Kalla attended the United Nations General Assembly four times in a row from 2015 to 2018.

He attended the Group 20 Summit in Buenos Aires, a mostly economic forum that Jokowi usually preferred to attend.

Kalla was also a constant fixture at Organization of Islamic Conference summits.

He was previously expected to run as either a presidential or vice-presidential candidate in this political year.

But his intentions to contest the election were blocked after the Constitutional Court rejected judicial review petitions challenging a provision in the 2017 Elections Law that prevents a president and vice president from seeking a third term.

“However, it taught me to keep living this life with order, not grasa-grusu [in a rush],” Kalla said, adding that he hoped his career could serve as inspiration for the younger generations.

During Thursday’s public lecture, which was themed Indonesia and the World: Future Trajectory, Opportunity and Challenges, Kalla briefly touched on how Indonesia could take advantage of the trade war between the United States and China, as well as the United Kingdom’s looming exit from the European Union.

Jakarta could benefit from the ongoing global uncertainty, if only it opened itself up to the world, he added.

“That is what we are doing now. We have been updating our cooperation with many countries and regional blocs,” Kalla said, pointing to a free trade agreement with Australia.

The vice president’s speech on Thursday was followed by a discussion on Kalla in the eyes of his colleagues and friends, featuring business tycoons Chairul Tanjung and Sofjan Wanandi, as well as Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who was endorsed by Kalla in the bitter gubernatorial election in 2017.

Anies described Kalla as an authentic person who thought and acted quickly.

“He is authentic with anyone, including old friends. He always takes care of his relationships,” Anies said, adding that even after becoming vice president, Kalla did not distance himself from anyone.