page_title: Jusuf Kalla
section_title: First vice-presidential term
hierarchical_section_title: Jusuf Kalla / Political career / First vice-presidential term
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Jusuf Kalla, The 10th Vice President of Republic of Indonesia 2004-2009
context_page_description: Muhammad Jusuf Kalla is an Indonesian politician and businessman who served as the 10th and 12th Vice President of Indonesia, the only vice president in Indonesian history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office. He was unsuccessful as Golkar's presidential nominee in the 2009 presidential election. Before Kalla declared himself as the running mate for Joko Widodo in the 2014 presidential election, a 2012 poll placed his popularity among likely voters in the top three contenders for the presidency and ahead of his own party's nominee Aburizal Bakrie. He is the first person to hold two non-consecutive terms as Vice President of Indonesia.
  Since 2009 Kalla serves as the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross Society.
context_section_description: Although he had overwhelmingly won the Presidency, Yudhoyono was still weak in the People's Representative Council (DPR). PD with all of its coalition partners were still too weak to contend with the legislative muscles of Golkar and PDI-P who now intended to play the role of opposition.
  With a National Congress to be held in December 2004, Yudhoyono and Kalla had originally backed head of DPR Agung Laksono to become Golkar Chairman. When Agung was perceived to be too weak to run against Akbar, Yudhoyono and Kalla threw their weight behind Surya Paloh. Finally, when Paloh was also perceived to be too weak to run against Akbar, Yudhoyono gave the green light for Kalla to run for the Golkar Chairmanship. On 19 December 2004, Kalla was elected as the new Chairman of Golkar.
  Kalla's victory posed a dilemma for Yudhoyono. Although it now enabled Yudhoyono to pass legislation, Kalla's new position meant that in one sense, he was now more powerful than Yudhoyono.
  The first sign of rivalry came during the Indian Ocean tsunami when Kalla, apparently on his own initiative, assembled the ministers and signed a Vice Presidential decree ordering work to begin on rehabilitating Aceh. The legality of the Vice Presidential decree was questioned although Yudhoyono maintained that it was he who gave the orders for Kalla to proceed.
  The second sign was in September 2005 when Yudhoyono went to New York to attend the annual United Nations Summit. Although Yudhoyono had left Kalla to take charge of proceedings at Jakarta, he seemed to be bent on maintaining a watch on matters at home. Yudhoyono would hold a video conference from New York to receive reports from ministers. Critics suggested that such conduct was an expression of distrust by Yudhoyono The suggestion seemed to gain momentum when Kalla only showed up for one video conference and then spent the rest of the time taking care of Golkar matters.
  Although things calmed down, especially with Golkar gaining another cabinet position in the reshuffle, the alleged rivalry surfaced again in October 2006 when Yudhoyono established the Presidential Work Unit for the Organization of Reform Program (UKP3R). Critics questioned whether the establishment of the unit was an attempt by Yudhoyono to exclude Kalla from the government. Yudhoyono was quick to clarify that in supervising UKP3R, he would be assisted by Kalla.
caption: Official portrait of Kalla's first VP term
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