VZCZCXRO5412
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #0779/01 1241024
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 041024Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2257
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000779 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP 
NSC FOR E. PHU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PDEM ID
SUBJECT: STAGE SEEMS SET FOR THREE-WAY RACE FOR PRESIDENT 
 
REF: A. JAKARTA/POL:HARSHA - OPS CENTER 05/02/09 EMAIL 
     ¶B. JAKARTA 775 
 
Classified By: Pol/C Joseph L. Novak, reasons 1.4(b+d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  VP Jusuf Kalla on May 1 announced that 
Wiranto (one name only), a former general and leader of the 
Hanura Party, will run with him in the July presidential 
election.  This lackluster partnership has little chance of 
winning and many in Kalla's Golkar Party do not support it. 
With this news, the stage seems set for a three-way 
presidential contest involving President Yudhoyono, former 
president Megawati and Kalla.  Yudhoyono remains in a 
commanding position to win in July.  Speculation is spiking 
re whom Yudhoyono might pick as his VP running mate with new 
names emerging as the flavors of the day.  END SUMMARY. 
 
MAY 1 ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Spurned by President Yudhoyono who did not want him 
as his running mate again, Kalla has turned elsewhere.  On 
May 1, VP Kalla teamed up with Hanura Party founder and 
controversial former armed forces chief Wiranto in a run for 
president.  In April national legislative elections, Golkar 
garnered a projected 14-15% of the vote and Hanura 3-4%, 
while three smaller parties in this coalition got about 3%, 
giving this ticket just enough votes to meet the 20% 
threshold needed to field a candidate under Indonesia's 
complicated election rules. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) VP candidate Wiranto ran for president on the 
Golkar ticket in 2004, coming in last place in the first 
round with only 22% of the vote, and behind Yudhoyono and 
then president Megawati Sukarnoputri.  No one got over 50% of 
the vote in the first round in 2004, setting up a second 
round in which Yudhoyono trounced Megawati. 
 
¶4.  (C) Kalla and Wiranto also announced that their parties 
have formed a coalition with former president Megawati's 
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) plus the 
Gerindra Party and other smaller parties to form an 
opposition bloc in the next Parliament.  PDI-P would still 
field Megawati in the presidential election this July, thus 
creating a three-way race.  However, according to observers, 
if Kalla does poorly and Yudhoyono does well in July, Golkar 
likely would try to realign itself with PD in order to be 
part of a governing coalition. 
 
GOLKAR IN-FIGHTING CONTINUES 
 
¶5.  (C) The Kalla-Wiranto ticket is not yet settled.  A 
powerful faction of former Golkar elites and local Golkar 
chapter heads are working behind the scenes to force another 
Golkar Central Board or plenary to bring Golkar back into the 
fold with President Yudhoyono's Partai Demokrat (PD), senior 
Golkar MP Marsuki Darusman told DepPol/C on May 4.  This 
effort is supported by Parliamentary Speaker Agung Laksono, 
former Golkar Chair Akbar Tandjung, and People's Welfare 
Minister Aburizal Bakrie, as well as 24 Provincial Golkar 
captains and hundreds of sub-district leaders, Marsuki said. 
These Golkar leaders are worried that the party will be 
forced into the opposition at the national and local levels, 
a position which does not suit the stodgy Suharto-era ruling 
party. 
 
YUDHOYONO BIDES HIS TIME 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Amid all this jockeying, Yudhoyono maintains the 
upper hand.  April polls reveal that 50% of the people would 
vote for him as president, compared to 14% for Megawati and 
only 6% for Jusuf Kalla.  Wiranto polled at only 1.6% as a 
presidential candidate.  Megawati's likely VP candidate, 
Gerindra Party head Prabowo Subianto, polled at under 6%.  In 
addition, the current PD political party coalition has 48% of 
the legislative vote, followed by 21% each for the 
Kalla-Wiranto and the probable Megawati-Prabowo coalitions. 
 
SPECULATION SPIKES RE PRESIDENT'S RUNNING MATE 
 
¶7.   (C) Yudhoyono said on May 3 that he has chosen a VP 
candidate among the 19 persons on his short list.  He has 
said he will wait until the week of May 10-16 before 
announcing his pick.  It is not to his advantage to reveal 
his hand just yet.  By focusing on governing and keeping his 
opponents offguard, Yudhoyono is exuding an air of confident 
leadership while the other parties flounder around forming 
coalitions.  While they are squandering their resources 
 
JAKARTA 00000779  002 OF 002 
 
 
seeking alliances, Yudhoyono is campaigning. 
 
¶8.  (C) Speculation re whom Yudhoyono favors for his VP 
running mate is changing daily.  Observers agree that he is 
looking for someone who is loyal and capable, from outside 
Java Island (in order to provide balance with the Javanese 
president), and ideally a technocrat (Ref B).  One 
well-placed source told the DCM that Yudhoyono would like 
someone too old to succeed him in five years so that he can 
hand-pick a younger successor to carry on his legacy. 
 
¶9.  (C) In the latest speculation, current State Secretary 
Hatta Rajasa of National Mandate Party (PAN) remains a 
serious contender.  PAN decided at a May 2 National 
Leadership Meeting to team up with PD and offered up Rajasa 
as the VP candidate.  However, Rajasa's stock might have 
fallen because PAN was divided on its decision to support 
Yudhoyono, with PAN Chair Soetrisno Bachir signaling his 
preference for someone else. 
 
¶10.  (C) In recent days, Central Bank Chair Boediyono (one 
name only) has emerged as a leading contender.  He brings no 
political party support but could help run the economy and 
brings a high degree of professionalism.  Yudhoyono also is 
said to favor Boediyono because he is too old to succeed him 
in 2014.  Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is another 
respected technocrat who is in the running.  Because 
Yudhoyono is so popular himself, he does not need a popular 
running mate to win, just someone who will not detract from 
his support. 
 
¶11.  (C) However, the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party 
(PKS), an important part of the likely Yudhoyono coalition, 
has rejected both Boediyono and Mulyani as too liberal and 
pro-Western, one informed source told the DCM.  PKS 
threatened to walk away from PD if either of these two are 
chosen.  PKS instead is supporting a bright, young deputy 
chair of the upper house of Parliament, Irman Gusman, from 
West Sumatra.  He has Islamic credentials as a leader of the 
Association of Young Muslim Leaders (ICMI) and of the mass 
organization Muhammadiyah, as well as academic credentials 
with an MBA from University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. 
Yudhoyono's wife Ani, known to be the President's most 
trusted advisor, also supports Gusman, according to this 
source. 
 
¶12.  (C) Finally, the dissident Golkar faction is still 
hoping to undermine Kalla's bid and reunite with Yudhoyono. 
Yudhoyono also has not closed off this possibility.  Among 
Golkar VP contenders, Yudhoyono favors Aburizal Bakrie, 
Marsuki told us.  Bakrie is a wealthy businessman who 
bankrolled Yudhoyono's last presidential bid.  Former Golkar 
Chair Akbar Tandjung and Parliamentary Speaker Agung Laksono 
are the other two on Golkar's shortlist. 
HUME