Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Golkar executives are downplaying Jusuf Kalla's announcement that he is considering running for vice president under Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2014, saying that the party had rallied around its candidate, Aburizal "Ical" Bakrie.
Setya Novanto, the leader of Golkar Party lawmakers in the House, said that Kalla's move would only cause minor ripples within the party, as all its members, including Kalla, do not want to risk the party's future.
"We appreciate Pak JK and his intentions. He is a Golkar party icon. I believe that as a former chairman, he [Kalla] will do his best to save the party. We trust him on this," Setya told reporters.
Setya declined to elaborate on what Golkar would do if Kalla jumped on the bandwagon of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), saying that he remained confident in Ical's prospects in 2014.
"We have often faced difficult and countless obstacles, but we have survived each and every one of them," Setya said.
Setya apparently disagreed with other senior Golkar senior politicians, such as Fadel Muhammad and Agung Laksono, who previously said that Kalla's willingness to run on a ticket below Megawati might split Golkar, as Kalla still retained a vast influence over the party's rank and file.
He warned all Golkar members to toe the party line and to stop making statements that could expose its internal rifts.
Kalla's potential defection is not the first threat to Ical's nomination as the party's presidential candidate for 2014. Former Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, for example, has been one of the few Golkar politicians who have expressed reservations about Ical.
Prior to Aburizal's official nomination in October, Akbar called on the party's leaders to reevaluate their decision. However, Akbar's campaign failed to gain traction and he lost the vote to Ical.
Echoing Setya's comments, Golkar executive Ade Komaruddin said that Kalla running on a ticket under Megawati was, at best, hypothetical and should not merit serious attention.
"We will still respect him if it's true. He has the right to do it. However, I want to make sure that all members of the Golkar will do the best to save the party," Ade told reporters.
Both Setya and Ade declined to discuss the possibility of party members shifting their support to Kalla, saying that all party members would abide by the party rules and regulations.
Golkar has a long history of forging new alliances for what critics have said was political expediency.
For example, Golkar backed away from former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, whom the party endorsed to run in the 2004 presidential election, and diverted its support to Kalla months after he was elected vice president under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Months after the election, Kalla, who neither asked for nor received Golkar's endorsement for his candidacy, took over Golkar's leadership from Akbar and forged an alliance to support the Yudhoyono administration.
While Golkar politicians may have underestimated Kalla's intention to run under Megawati, a source who declined to be named confirmed that Kalla was serious about his intentions to run for vice president in 2014.
The source said that four business tycoons had informally endorsed a potential Megawati-Kalla ticket. According to the source, the tycoons agreed to financially support a Megawati-Kalla campaign in return for Kalla's effort to cultivate relations with Golkar after the election.