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Viewing cable 07SURABAYA57, SOUTH SULAWESI: JUSUF KALLA PICKS HIS GUBERNATORIAL

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07SURABAYA57 2007-10-18 03:32 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Surabaya
VZCZCXRO2579
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0057/01 2910332
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180332Z OCT 07
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0079
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0071
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0022
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0020
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0081
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000057 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, IRN/EAP, DRL/PHD, INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KISL KCOR ID
SUBJECT: SOUTH SULAWESI: JUSUF KALLA PICKS HIS GUBERNATORIAL 
CANDIDATE, BUT WILL THE VOTERS LISTEN? 
 
REF: SURABAYA 39 
 
SURABAYA 00000057  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Portions of this message are sensitive but unclassified.  Please 
protect accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  On October 15, Vice President and Golkar 
National Chairman Jusuf Kalla strongly urged Golkar elites in 
South Sulawesi to support incumbent Amin Syam and his running 
mate Mansyur Ramly in the November 5 gubernatorial elections. 
Public reaction has been negative, suggesting that the public 
may not be inclined to follow instructions in the first direct 
gubernatorial elections in South Sulawesi.  Local observers 
commented to us that Kalla will use all of the tools at his 
disposal to get his choice elected in what is really an 
experiment in party mobilization before the 2009 presidential 
election.  End Summary. 
 
NEPOTISM OR CAPABILITIES? 
------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) According to local Makassar daily Fajar (a Jawa Pos 
company), Vice President Jusuf Kalla told local Golkar cadres to 
vote for incumbent Amin Syam in the November 5 gubernatorial 
election.  In a closed door meeting with Golkar elites on 
October 15, Golkar Party National Chairman Kalla reportedly 
urged participants not to have any doubts about Golkar's 
candidates, noting that his brother-in-law Mansyur Ramly was 
Amin Syam's running mate.  Kalla reportedly told the audience 
made up of regents and mayors from throughout South Sulawesi 
that he had already instructed his companies Kalla Group and 
Bosowa Group to help Amin Syam and Mansyur Ramly win the 
election. 
 
3. (SBU) Reaction to Kalla's reported instructions to "vote for 
Amin Syam" were greeted with dismay by readers of Fajar online, 
who expressed disappointment about Kalla's decision to take 
sides in the gubernatorial election. They complained that he was 
being neither neutral nor democratic.  Hasbi Abdulla, Director 
of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), told the Consulate that his 
informal poll of the "grass roots" suggested that the population 
was most disturbed by Kalla's statements urging members to vote 
for a family member.  Kalla was perceived as supporting these 
candidates because of nepotism, not because of capability or 
personality. 
 
EXPERIMENTATION WITH DIRECT ELECTIONS 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
4. (SBU) Sukriansyah, Editor of Fajar, told Consulate Surabaya 
that the public has long known that Kalla firmly supported Amin 
Syam and Mansur Ramly and would use his economic "power" to 
insure his choice wins.  He observed, however, that Kalla's 
support may be less influential in this first direct election. 
Sukriansyah explained that Kalla understand the realities of a 
direct election where parties have less influence and thus had 
no choice but to publicly support Amin Syam.  According to 
Sukriansyah, Kalla will go all out to ensure victory for Amin 
Syam as an "experiment" on how to mobilize Golkar voters to 
support his own potential candidacy for president in 2009. 
 
5. (SBU)  Hasbi Abdulla agreed with Sukriansyah's assessment of 
the uncertainties surrounding a direct election.  He said, 
"People are smarter than before.  They might vote for anybody 
they like despite the fact that political elites have directed 
them to vote a certain way."  Pointing to the 2004 presidential 
election as illustrative, Hasbi observed that President 
Yudhoyono was an unknown politician from a small, new political 
party, and the people voted for him. 
 
BUGIS VOTE 
----------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Hasbi suggested that Kalla will also try to draw on 
his Bugis ethnicity to persuade voters to select Amin Syam. 
Both Kalla and Amin Syam are considered "real" Bugis, as 
compared with "Bugis Makassar."  In contrast, Amin Syam's most 
formidable competition Syahrul Yasin Limpo, the current vice 
governor, is a Bugis Makassar.  His running mate, Agus Arifin 
Nu'man, is a real Bugis. 
 
7. (SBU) Kalla's recent statements that there would be an "all 
Golkar final" in the gubernatorial election reflects the fact 
that Amin Syam, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, and Agus Arifin Nu'man are 
all current or previous Golkar cadres and still support Golkar 
ideology (see reftel).  From Hasbi Abdulla's perspective, 
Syahrul's biggest competition for the governor's office is not 
 
SURABAYA 00000057  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Amin Syam, but Jusuf Kalla. 
MCCLELLAND