http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25111591-2703,00.html
SBY pulls ambitious deputy into line Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent | February 27, 2009 Article from: The Australian INDONESIAN leader Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has unexpectedly weighed into speculation over the presidency, warning his coalition partner Golkar party not to damage the current administration with talk of its succession. The President had remained silent during the growing frenzy in recent days about whether his deputy and Golkar chairman, Jusuf Kalla, would challenge him for the top position. But Mr Yudhoyono, who has given almost no interviews during five years in office, broke his silence in an extended prime-time television appearance in which he warned Mr Kalla not to destabilise what remained of the pair's term. "I hope that even if in 2009 (Mr Kalla) and I are in opposing positions, if indeed he comes forward as a presidential candidate, that we can continue to operate together as president and vice-president as well as possible ... so the nation is best served," Mr Yudhoyono said. The admonition came after the Vice-President was summoned to Mr Yudhoyono's official residence for crisis talks on Sunday night. Indonesia goes to parliamentary elections in just over a month, and the first round of presidential polls follow in July. A wide open field means that election is expected to go to a run-off vote in October. Mr Kalla signalled a week ago he could challenge Mr Yudhoyono for the top job, saying he had "from the beginning always been ready for anything". The warning came after Golkar heavyweight Surya Paloh urged a party conference to be ready to nominate its own presidential candidate rather than settling for second position on a Yudhoyono ticket. By law, the current administration will not be dissolved until October 20, and the President said in his television interview: "We must preserve it and we must proceed as well as possible ... I have never and I may not position the Vice-President as my competitor." Parties must win 20 per cent of the 560 seats on offer in April's legislative polls in order to nominate their own presidential candidates for the July vote. However, parties that fall short can still form coalition tickets -- meaning that, with 38 parties registered, horse-trading for partners will be even more intense than it was at the last election in 2004. Mr Yudhoyono's Democratic Party has been talking up a better than 20 per cent showing in its own right, meaning it could abandon the union with Golkar on which he has relied. But Mr Paloh was direct at his party conference, warning that Golkar -- the political vehicle fashioned by former dictator Suharto to institutionalise what became a 32-year reign -- was "the party that is most prepared for repositioning. We are ready to govern this country". In the interview, Mr Yudhoyono also had a swipe at former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, under whom he served as defence minister, and who later described him as a traitor for quitting and then running against her in 2004. "That's a character assassination," he said, adding that she had refused to speak to him since the election. Ms Megawati is again expected to be a major threat in the polls this time around.