TEMPO.CO, Padang - Former Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo had a great chance to become the nation’s next president if he could maintain his outstanding image.
The former Golkar Party’s chairman said the governor could maintain his image by alleviating the capital's traffic, floods, slums, and developing markets in the year to come.
“If he could do these, he must run for president,” Kalla said in Padang on September 1, 2013.
In connection with the possibility of his contesting the presidential race with the governor, chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) said he had yet to think about it. “At the right time,” he explained.
Jusuf Kalla said there had been no special talks yet with the former Solo Mayor regarding the possibility. “That’s the decision of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). I don’t want to precede that,” Kalla stated.
Earlier, Jusuf Kalla rejected the ruling Democratic Party’s invitation to participate in its presidential primary. He said the party required a presidential hopeful to become the party’s cadre should he or she prevailed in the convention.
“That’s impossible. I’m a former chairman of the Golkar Party. I cannot move,” he stated.
The former president said his moving to the party would set a bad precedent for the nation’s political world—the same went for President Yudhoyono if he decided to move to Golkar Party three years from now, he illustrated.
After declining the presidential convention, Jusuf Kalla said he had yet to mull his candidacy in the 2014 presidential race. “Politics are dynamic. I’ve yet to give it a thought. I’m waiting for the right time.”
Previously, Governor Jokowi made a similar statement regarding his presidential bid. “I don’t want to think about that. Right now I am working for Jakarta,” he said after delivering a lecture at the Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra on August 31, 2013.
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