Muninggar Sri Saraswati – If Vice President Jusuf Kalla was trying to make his stance on running for president clear during remarks to Golkar Party cadres over the weekend, he still managed to leave political observers around the country scratching their heads over what his real plans are.

Kalla has repeatedly announced his "readiness" to accept the Golkar nomination to contest the presidency – at once making himself a force in the presidential race without actually declaring his intention to run – first in a Golkar meeting in February, then on Sunday in his hometown of Makassar, in South Sulawesi Province.

He made a similarly ambiguous statement in Bandung, West Java Province, on Monday, saying after a meeting of local Golkar leaders that he was "ready to fulfil your desires."

Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political expert with the Indonesian Science Institute, or LIPI, said on Monday that Kalla, who is also Golkar's chairman, appeared to be serious about pursuing the top job, noting that both South Sulawesi and West Java are known as Golkar strongholds.

"He has announced his plan in front of supporters in Golkar strongholds," Ikrar said. "I don't think a Bugis leader like him would retract statements that have been made in public," adding that he might lose public trust and demoralize Golkar members if he now chose not to enter the race.

He said the relationship between Kalla and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had already begun to fray, making it "highly unlikely" they would run together again.

"Kalla and SBY are like Tom and Jerry," Ikrar said, referring to the popular US cartoon depicting the never-ending rivalry between Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse.

Some scholars believe the friction is due to the two politicians' differing leadership styles. Yudhoyono is known for moving with care and caution – sometimes to the point of indecision – while Kalla is considered to take a more active and pragmatic approach to problem solving.

Political observer Kacung Marijan of the Airlangga University said on Monday that he believed Kalla's recent statements are part of a strategy to prevent Golkar from splitting over the decision about whether or not to endorse a presidential candidate. "It's a move to consolidate the party in order to win the legislative elections on April 9," he said.

The initial momentum to do so, Kacung said, came when Ahmad Mubarok, the deputy chairman of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, angered Golkar members recently by saying that the party would only be able to win 2.5 percent of the national vote in the legislative elections.

However, the party had needed a leader to build on that momentum, Kacung said. "The Democratic Party has Yudhoyono, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P] has Megawati Sukarnoputri, but Golkar has nobody."

Kacung said Kalla still had many things to consider. These include making an assessment as to whether Kalla believes Golkar is able to win more than 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives seats at the legislative election in order to be able to nominate him.