Adianto P. Simamora and Dicky Kristanto, Jakarta – The breakdown of ties between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his deputy Jusuf Kalla will undoubtedly impact on the remaining six months of their administration, political observers said Thursday.
The SBY-JK government will end its five-year term on Oct. 20 this year, but the two have already opted to go separate ways.
Political experts said the decision by Kalla to challenge Yudhoyono in the July 8 presidential election would negatively impact on their personal relationship and ultimately affect the performance of their Cabinet members.
"It cannot be denied that they will focus most on their respective campaigns to win the presidential election rather than on their daily state duties," said political analyst Maswadi Rauf from the University of Indonesia (UI).
He said the commitment made by both Yudhoyono and Kalla to fully continue running the government until October was only "lip service". Maswadi advised Kalla to resign as vice president for the sake of the nation and to allow him time to promote his presidential bid.
"If possible, it would be even better for Jusuf Kalla to resign from his current position and start focusing on his candidacy," he said. "There will be hesitation and awkwardness between Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla from now on. Thus the effectiveness of the current administration will be less than optimal over the next six months," Maswadi said.
Ibramsyah, another political observer from UI, said both Yudhoyono and Kalla would be very busy meeting with their party members to devise strategies to win the election. "It cannot be avoided. The presidential candidates will be spending time every day attending internal meetings relating to the candidacy."
He said the two candidates would also be traveling across the country to garner support in the lead up to the elections. "We can see from the recent legislative elections. Pak Yudhoyono specifically traveled to East Java for his Democratic Party's campaign immediately upon returning from Thailand," Ibramsyah said.
Reform Institute director of research and development Abdul Hamid shared similar views, saying the image of this current administration would never be the same following Kalla's presidential bid. Hamid similarly suggested that Kalla should resign from his vice presidential post for the interest of the nation and to focus on his presidential campaign.
"Golkar should build a coalition with the PDI-P (the Indonesian Demoratic Party of Struggle) in order to become a strong contender against the incumbent.
"If this moment is wasted then we are going to see a strong administration later on without proper monitoring from the parliament," he said.
The soured relationship between Yudhoyono and Kalla was evident Thursday when the vice president failed to attend a Cabinet meeting shortly after Golkar decided to cease its coalition with the Democratic Party.
According to some Yudhoyono aides in the Cabinet, Kalla had confirmed his plan to attend the meeting to discuss preparations for the World Ocean Conference in Manado, North Sulawesi.
However, the Media Indonesia daily newspaper reported Thursday that Kalla canceled his plans to attend the meeting after one of his aides was informed by Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi that his absence would not be an issue if he was preoccupied with the party.