Jakarta/Bandung – Vice President Jusuf Kalla has rejected growing calls for his Golkar Party to discuss presidential candidates during its national meeting this week.
His statement comes as party stalwart Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X continues to seek the party's support for his presidential bid.
Hamengkubuwono, the governor of Yogyakarta, has been touted as a vice presidential hopeful for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), but says he has not decided on a "political vehicle" to use in his contestation of the presidential poll.
"Not yet, it will be Golkar," he said Saturday in Bandung when asked about the party he would run with.
On a visit to Belgium, Kalla warned Hamengkubuwono and other possible presidential hopefuls against soliciting support from Golkar during the forum, scheduled for Feb. 12-15, 2009.
"They cannot use Golkar. But it is no problem if they contest the presidential election [with support from other parties]. And this will not affect Golkar's votes in the legislative election, because the president is not elected then," Kalla said Friday night at the Indonesian Embassy in Brussels.
He added Golkar would not discuss the issue of its presidential candidate during the party's upcoming national meeting.
"Every six months, Golkar holds a national coordination meeting to discuss the party's preparations for the legislative elections. So the presidential election is not on the agenda," he said.
Last week, Golkar deputy chairman Agung Laksono and several other senior party officials said the coordination meeting would likely touch on the subject of a presidential candidate from the party.
The Yogyakarta governor said he would not resign from Golkar should he contest the election on the ticket of another party.
"Why should I resign? That's just a call by jealous people," he said. With so many Golkar stalwarts already nominated by other parties to contest regional elections, Hamengkubuwono pointed out, none had been dismissed from Golkar.
For this year's election, Golkar members have challenged Kalla to declare his bid for the presidency. However, the vice president has hinted he would run again as Yudhoyono's number two.
"Do not belittle Golkar, because its members have great potential to win the presidential election this year. But why is the party chairman content with only being Yudhoyono's running mate?" said Golkar legislator Yuddy Chrisnandi.
He added Yudhoyono's camp was at present considering an alternative running mate besides Kalla. Therefore, he warned, Golkar should anticipate a possible break-up of the Yudhoyono-Kalla team and immediately nominate its chairman for the presidency.
[Yuli Tri Suwarni contributed to this report from Bandung.]