Opinion Column - Jakarta Globe. Writer: Aleksius Jemadu.
When Golkar Party stalwart Akbar Tanjung told the media that former Vice President Jusuf Kalla was considering approaching former President Megawati Sukarnoputri to form a ticket in the 2014 presidential elections, the news immediately attracted much media attention.
There are at least two reasons why the idea of pairing Megawati with Kalla in the 2014 presidential election is newsworthy.
First, both Megawati and Kalla still command wide respect within their parties, and therefore their popular base of political support cannot be underestimated. While Megawati can capitalize on the loyalty of her traditional supporters within the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Kalla still has great influence within Golkar, especially in his own province of South Sulawesi, one the party’s strongholds outside Java.
Second, Megawati and Kalla also have had extensive experience in the government, as a former president and vice president respectively. Thus, they are in the best position to understand the weaknesses of the current government and might also have some fresh ideas on how to make it work better.
Two approaches can be used to evaluate the merit of the pair. First, we can evaluate them on the basis of their own credentials as political leaders without comparing them with their possible contenders in the 2014 presidential election.
Megawati has never been successful in a direct presidential election. She tried in 2004 and 2009 with different vice presidential candidates but she failed in those elections. Kalla was successful when he ran as the running mate of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004 but then when he tried again as presidential candidate in 2009 he failed.
Now if Megawati and Kalla want to run again in 2014, the question that they will have to answer is this. Is there something new in their latest nomination that makes them more worthy of popular support than in the previous trials? They may have a plan to correct their past mistakes but that alone is not a guarantee that people will trust them more in the coming presidential election.
The second approach involves making a comparison. In any competition, the strength of the candidates is always relative because voters will compare them with their contenders. As things stand today, the most serious presidential contenders are Aburizal Bakrie from Golkar and Prabowo Subianto from Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).
It is interesting to note that Golkar leaders seem very careful when they comment on the partnership of Megawati and Kalla. The only reason behind their reluctance to condemn Kalla’s exit from Golkar is that they know all too well that Kalla is still popular among the Golkar rank and file. On top of that, they may realize that if Megawati and Kalla succeed in 2014 it will be easy for Kalla to orchestrate his comeback to Golkar and marginalize a defeated Aburizal.
Regardless of their popularity within their respective political parties, Megawati and Kalla will face an uphill battle. Megawati’s biggest challenge is mobilizing popular support beyond her “captive market” of PDI-P traditional loyalists. How can she convince the Indonesian public that she has the ability to reproduce the success of the current government in sustaining high economic growth and political stability despite the world economic slowdown? After all, it was President Yudhoyono who managed to fix the mistakes of her 2001 to 2004 presidency so that Indonesia could accelerate its economic growth.
When Kalla ran for president in 2009 with retired general Wiranto, their electoral achievement was mediocre. One reason for their poor performance was that incumbent President Yudhoyono was quite strong. Now the political landscape has changed. Whether Megawati and Kalla can spectacularly increase their electoral support will depend on the public’s perception of their synergy in addressing the shortcomings of the current government.
Time will tell whether Megawati’s nationalistic and populist proclivities combined with Kalla’s aggressive entrepreneurship can make their shared dream come true.
Aleksius Jemadu is dean of the School of Government and Global Affairs at Universitas Pelita Harapan in Karawaci.
I’m not sure if former President Megawati and former Vice President Jusuf Kalla will come out as the winner in the 2014 presidential election. Maybe if Mr. Jusuf Kalla chose another political figure which has better history than Mrs. Megawati as his pair, the possibility of being elected will be much higher. It’s true that Mr. Jusuf Kalla has done a remarkable achievement when he ran the presidency with SBY. But as we know from previous Mrs. Megawati’s presidency; some of Indonesian companies were sold to foreign companies, this decision made the economic condition in Indonesia even worse. According to that unpleasant experience, I think people in Indonesia will think twice in choosing them as the next leader.
ReplyDeleteBoth Megawati and Jusuf Kalla have a strong loyal supporters. Megawati with her PDIP can get around 10-20% with PDIP loyal supporters. While Jusuf Kalla; Since he quite from Golkar political party and join many communities, his popularity began to increase. But, the problem is they both are too old to take a run for 2014 presidential election. Megawati aged 65 years old, wile Jusuf Kalla aged 70 this year. For me, it's not physically and psychologically good for them if they get the throne. But, Let's just wish that whoever get elected in the 2012 presidential election is the best for Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteGolkar and PDIP are the oldest parties in Indonesia. They sure have a lot of loyal supporters. And Megawati also quite popular since she is the daughter of the first president of Indonesia. But its a bad idea to choose the seller of many assets of Indonesia in 2002. I think that JK still has respects from golkars supporters. The important thing that people have to choose with their heart for this own shake of country.
ReplyDeleteHonestly , i really want to see this combination between these two oldest parties, PDIP and Golkar, to work together in 2014 presidential elections, Megawati and Jusuf Kalla will definitely represent their own parties. As we know that Megawati was a former President of Republic of Indonesia in 1999-2004 and Jusuf Kalla was a former Vice President of Indonesia in 2004-2009 , in the first period of SBY. But , when i watched on TV and read in some newspapers , politics expert said that Jusuf Kalla is one of the 'cleanest' official or political in Indonesia , so why we don't give him one more chance to run this country again, and despite the bad performance of Indonesia's economics in 2001-2004, i think Megawati still has a very high sense of nationalist because of her father's blood ,so why we just don't give them the second 5-year-period chance to run this country together, this is the perfect partnership at this time.
ReplyDeleteThe notion saying that Megawati Soekarno Putri and Jusuf Kalla are best to be gathered as a dream team for Indonesia was really fascinated me. With all of the consideration this article mentioned above, I personally agree. As we all know that Megawati is the fifth president of Indonesia and she’s known for her program in which it claimed pro to the middle-lower class. Megawati also is supported by one of the biggest parties in Indonesia which has a big role either in executive, legislative, or judicative in which it enables her to go forward. In the other hand, Jusuf Kalla has a great reputation as a nationalist and very down to earth. Moreover, Jusuf Kalla has many sympathizers outside java considering that he came from Sulawesi by which he represents values of pluralism and emphasizes Indonesia as Indonesia. They both probably are the big chance for a better Indonesia. Nevertheless, Megawati-Kalla isn't the only combination Indonesia has. It is politic so that everything’s so unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteI have another view of Megawati and Jusuf Kalla. By looking at the perspective of both parties (PDI-P and Golkar), I think that it is beneficial because both of the duo's parties can support one another. Because both parties are intimate to different segments of Javanese society (which makes up the major political decisions in Indonesia)- PDI-P with the "kaum abangan" (traditional loyalists) and Golkar with the "kaum priyayi"- they might be able to satisfy what the media has been implying on requesting. These days, the media has brought shame for the "kaum santri" because of the actions of FPI. Maybe the Megawati-Kalla duo might actually take straightforward action about that. In addition, Megawati and Jusuf Kalla already know the rules of the game. Although I'm not quite sure what to say about politics since it's a sensitive issue, I can only say that those who have played the game can sure play it again.
ReplyDelete("Kaum Abangan/Santri/Priyayi" are the three segments of Javanese society according to Clifford Geertz, an American cultural anthropologist).
Personally I don’t like Megawati as a president due to some reason, but most importantly I don’t like her sold almost every Indonesia’s big companies such as Indosat and Perusahaan Gas Negara (National Gas Company).
ReplyDeleteI see Jusuf Kalla as a better business man than politician. He is one of the most successful businessmen in Indonesia; he owns a lot of asset in Makassar and leading the most prominent business group called Kalla Group since 1982. Honestly I can’t found any reason why a man with that wealth bothers to dive into Indonesia’s political system.
What I know is that there are some interesting presidential candidates for the election in 2014; famous names like Chairul Tanjung, Aburizal Bakrie, Dahlan Iskan and Prabowo Subianto are among the list.
I considerr Kalla as a good vice president. While he was serving as a vice president in 2004 untill 2009. He is an emphatic guy. He made many good policies. He is also good at making peace. We can see the result of his actions in Poso and Aceh conflicts. He has been a ceo for NV Hadji Kalla. Because of theses reasons I consider Kalla as a good leader. He is also charismatic and humorist. I ever heard Megawati's statement that she didn't like the Bantuan Langsung Tunai because it doen't make people work and have a job, but in another time she ever said that the Bantuan Langsung Tunai should be given to people on time.
ReplyDeleteI think Megawati and Jusuf Kalla's collaboration will be interesting. We all know their track records in this country. Personally, I prefer Kalla than Bakrie. We know how some of the Bakrie's companies have problems,I think it will affect his popularity in the future. As for Megawati and Kalla, they did make some mistakes in the past but they also have proved themselves as leaders in the public. With the Democrat Party's reputation now, I believe this pair will get more attention from the public. Hopefully this pair will really make a change and a better Indonesia.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Megawati and Jusuf Kalla is "the dream team". As we know Megawati always lost on the elections. We need a new figure for the election. Maybe Jusuf Kalla is good, but it will be better if he choose another person. Obviously not Megawati. As I know, Golkar doesn't give much support for Kalla. Because, Golkar support Abu Rizal Bakrie for the next election. Maybe PDI-P give their full support for Megawati. But if the support not equal, they won't win anyway. In my opinion, Golkar are wrong in choosing the next candidate from their party. Because, Abu Rizal Bakrie has a serius problem that not solve for 6 years. The Lapindo.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether Megawati and Jusuf Kalla are the dream team or not. I think Megawati was not doing really well in her presidency. As we have all known, there was some domestic companies sold to foreign companies by her command. I don't think that was a wise decision since the domestic companies she sold were actually really potential investment for Indonesia. She is indeed popular because she is the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Soekarno. Even so, she has lost the election for several times. It means she is not strong and credible enough to be a president. Also, I agree that Jusuf Kalla is a good entrepreneur. I prefer him being an entrepreneur rather than a vice president.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Megawati and Kalla collaboration is on 50:50 situation. Because Megawati can gather votes from the lower-mid-economic societies, while Kalla can gather from the high-end societies. As we can see the successful combination between Jokowi and Ahok, who won the heart of Jakarta citizens in the last election. But the most important thing is, Indonesia citizens have lost their trust to the incumbent party, Partai Demokrat, especially to SBY himself. But on the other hand, Megawati and Kalla's supporters are concentrated in Central Java and South Sulawesi respectively. Making a probability that it won't be enough to win the election. Let's just see how they struggle in building a good image.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Kalla will good in managing Indonesian economic growth, however Megawati is not a reflection of a good President. Megawati even cannot speak English well. She always use the power of her father and try to apply her father’s leadership behavior into hers. But, among PDI-P members itself, Jokowi is regard by public as the most favorite person who become a president in 2014. Therefore, my dream team would be Joko Widodo as the president and Dahlan Iskan as the vice president. If they become the candidate of 2014 presidential election, I believe there will be more than 50% of Indonesian elect them. However, that could be just my imagination, because the Indonesian politicians will try to make them not to propose themselves as the candidate. And the politician powers are really powerful for those people who know and understand the real situation hide from the media. So does Megawati and Kalla are a dream team, the answer is they are better than Bakrie and Prabowo Subianto.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am not sure that Mega-Kalla is a dream team. Even though Golkar and PDIP are one of the oldest party in Indonesia, I do not think so 2014 Indonesia presidential election is their time. It might be Golkar and PDIP have a lot of loyal supporters, but nowadays most of people more educated and more rational to choose their future leader. For a real instance of people development in rationality is at Jakarta Governor election. Religion and race issues have not specific effect anymore.Further, I think 2014 presidential election is the time for young president candidate. Most of survey that we can see in our media shows us many of Indonesian citizen want a new face in our government. It states that Prabowo Subianto, Dahlan Iskan, and Pramono Anung can go toward the 2014 election. Nonetheless it is politic so that everything is so unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Megawati was just not the right person to be our president, moreover for the second time. In academic terms, she didn’t even finished (both of) her study at university (she entered Faculty of Agriculture in University of Padjadjaran Bandung (1965-1967) and Faculty of Psychology in University of Indonesia (1970-1972)). And in terms of policy and international diplomacy, Indonesian people are under a terrible grief when they lose Sipadan and Ligitan islands to the hands of Malaysia. Losing Indosat to the private sector also add a bad mark to her administration time. So, i don’t think that they are going to be there (Merdeka Palace) in 2014.
ReplyDeleteIt is really strange if Indonesia choose megawati as a president once again. Just take a look at her record, nothing big about her. Besides, jusuf kalla might be competent vice president to handle economic part. Because he had plenty of business background and experience. For me, the ideal next president would be Dahlan Iskan. Although he has many enemies outside because of his good record, i believe he can be the next president.
ReplyDeleteWill Megawati and Kalla become the next president for period 2014 to 2019? I personally say it is impossible. Nowadays, society of Indonesia has already been smart enough to have president election. Society will know exactly that Megawati did not do any significance changes for Indonesia during her leadership. Then, about Kall which we know that he is a businessman. He may have capability in economics, but you can imagine if business combine with the governmental power(like what Soeharto did in the past), we can see the big capitalism in Indonesia happened and corruption and collusion will be strengthen. Therefore, I believe that it will be very difficult to Megawati and Kalla to win in this election in the middle of the smart society in this present time.
ReplyDeleteMegawati and Kalla is a dream team for winning the president election? Come on, you must be kidding me. In the past they were an enemy who compete each other to get president position, and now both of them will nominate as president and vice president of Indonesia and work together. I cannot imagine how they work together and not consider about who has the higher position and power in running the government. Since we know that both of them have big political power in Indonesia government and in the past they drop each other, it is hard for them to combining two parties. You must be know, that politics is really complicated to solve. I just know the definition of politics is many parties snatch each other to seek the position. Well, just see in 2014, whether they can become candidate or not, otherwise it’s just my opinion, maybe others are different.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about Megawati during his position as a president years ago. But i really admire JK or Jusuf Kalla when he is a vice president in the last presidency period. Most of his works are realistic. Not like SBY, he does't talk much but his actions that speaks. He visits many places in Indonesia during his period and during his visit he tries to overcome the problem the area faces.
ReplyDeleteAs for the dream team, i think that it just won't work because JK n Megawati compete a lot and i think that it will be very hard to unite them for the next presidential election.
I agree with Oliv's opinion, I personally don't see that the combination of Megawati and Jusuf Kalla is such a dream team. Same as Oliv, I see many failures when Megawati became thenpresident. Indonesia loss some of our big companies and what I know is at that time Indonesia's debt was keep increasing. However, I believe that Jusuf Kalla is better than Megawati, but he is better in doing busines though rather than leading a country. At the end, I disagree if Megawati nominates herself to become Indonesia's president in 2014.
ReplyDeleteAny team involving Megawati as President is a nightmare scenario, as she moved on issues with the speed of a three-toed sloth when she was president - and then only when she couldn't avoid dealing with such issues.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, in particular Megawati, should suck it up and declare a final defeat due to age and incompetency. Give space for a younger generation, not generals and descendants of ex-players. There is nobody in the PDI-P who has those abilities.
I'm still confused why the last election Megawati still get a lot's vote from Indonesian People since her track record when she lead as President in past not quite good. Personally i do appreciate Jusuf Kalla as president candidate in 2014, I think he is very competent and talk less do more when he officiate as vice president. Maybe their collaboration just for get more vote in term of two big collaboration political party between PDIP and Golkar.
ReplyDeleteI will not vote Megawati! She is not proper to be the president of Indonesia. Even in the last election, she showed her attitide like she's not a stateswoman. She made laugh of SBY who won the election by using the terms: "poco-poco dance" and "playing yoyo". She also not solved the problems in Indonesia like bombing and corruption. I am not taking sides between Megawati and SBY, those are the real problems which Indonesians might forget. However, I really support Jusuf Kalla as the leader of this nation. He always took action without talking too much to solve the problems in Indonesia. I will support him more to be the president of Indonesia but without Megawati as the vice president. I think Jusuf Kalla would be great if he collaborates with Sri Mulyani, the former Minister of Finance who is now working as the Managing Director of World Bank Group because she had strengthened Indonesia's economy, increasing investments and steering South East Asia's largest economy through the 2007–2010 financial crisis.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that combination of Megawati and Jusuf Kalla will be the dream team for the election of 2014. I personally think that Mahfud Md will be the next strong candidate for 2014 election because he got a good personal quality than the other. Indonesia need a strong president for 2014 to increase the economic condition and bring prosperity to Indonesia and also reduce the number of corruption that made Indonesia suffer more.
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