Tony Hotland, Jakarta Post – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday that there would be "no more fuss" about a new presidential advisory team, at least from the Golkar Party, although he still regards the team as unnecessary.

"It's all been settled. I'm the chairman of Golkar, and if I say (the controversy is over), what more could they want?" he said after being asked if the country's largest political party still opposed the team and would withdraw its support for the government.

But while Kalla acknowledged that he did not have the right to approve or disapprove of the new team, he still stated his objections to it.

"I said the system of coordination should remain as it is now. There's no need for another kind of coordination... coordinating ministers will do their jobs, the Vice President will do his, but if the President wants help from a working unit, of course it's just common," Kalla said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono established the Presidential Unit for the Management of Programs and Reform through a presidential decree late last month.

The creation of the unit raised the ire of Kalla and Golkar leaders, who feared it would encroach on Kalla's domain in the economy sector. The unit's head, Marsilam Simanjuntak, is known for his antigraft attitudes and for being a staunch critic of Golkar.

Several political figures and chairmen of Muslim organizations had quoted Kalla as saying that the unit was frozen due to his disapproval.

Yudhoyono staged a news conference Thursday night, broadcast live by two TV stations, explaining that he needed the unit to ensure all his programs were successful. He said the unit would continue working and that he was drawing up rules on how the new advisory team would interact with the Cabinet to ensure a good working relationship.

Sources at the Vice Presidential office said Kalla would play with the technicalities of the unit's future works, including barring Marsilam from Cabinet meetings. The decree establishing the unit states that Marsilam is to attend Cabinet meetings.

Kalla declined to comment on such an arrangement. He said the Golkar would not discuss issues related to the unit in its upcoming national leadership meeting in Jakarta, to run Monday to Thursday.

"(The unit) is too small an issue for Golkar for discussion by hundreds of our representatives from across the country. We'd rather discuss election strategies and recommendations for a more efficient election process," he said.

Chairman of the National Mandate Party Soetrisno Bachir said President Yudhoyono wanted political parties to stay out of the disputed relationship between him and Kalla.

Soetrisno, who spoke privately with the President for more than an hour at the palace late Thursday night, quoted him as saying that there was a chance the working unit's officials might be replaced based on their performance.

"The unit will stay on for the next three years, but if the President feels the people in the unit aren't satisfactory, they can be replaced," he said.