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It is often said in these days of government timidity and indecision that the single biggest difference between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's two terms of administration is one man - businessman-turned-politician Jusuf Kalla, who served as vice-president during his first term.

Kalla is perceived to have got things done, pushing through the Aceh peace process when it was in danger of flagging, urging a politically-sensitive increase in fuel prices at a critical point in 2005 and generally going for the hard decisions when they were needed.

In many ways, the straight-talking Sulawesi-born trader complemented the ever-cautious Yudhoyono, portraying himself as the 'chief of staff' who would take charge of the 'technical issues' and leave the vision and the big thinking to the President.

It did not always make for a happy union, of course, and political observers nodded knowingly when Yudhoyono chose Boediono, the mild-mannered economist, as vice-president for his second term.

Kalla, 69, has not gone softly into the night, like most former V-Ps. Apart from a losing bid for the presidency as the Golkar Party candidate in July 2009, he has kept up a busy schedule at the head of the Indonesian Red Cross - and continues to issue punchy political statements.

He also wants to make another run for the nation's highest office in 2014, perhaps on the coat-tails of a mediating role in the Papua mess. 'Its quite simple,' says one long-time associate, pointing to his determination and leadership abilities. "He wants to fix the country."

The same source cannot confirm reports that Yudhoyono has even privately asked him to consider running under the banner of the President's own Democrat Party, which has taken so many hard knocks this year.

Such a scenario may not be as outlandish as it looks, given how open the field is and the fact that Kalla abandoned Golkar to join the Democrat ticket in 2004. But as the confidante puts it: 'Assuming it's true, I don't think JK (Kalla) would just take it for granted. The same offer may have been made to other people.'

Kalla's Buginese backers have in recent months re-established Lembang Sembilan, the success team - named after a street in Jakarta's Menteng district where it had its headquarters - which supported his vice-presidential campaign in 2004.

The former vice-president is also being urged to run by several prominent backers, including one prominent Christian segment of the Jakarta elite which once treated him with deep suspicion because of his past links to a Sulawesi syariah movement.

But the Democrats? Says one member of Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie's presidential success team: "Nothing would surprise me because the field is open to all sorts of wild fantasies, born more out of desperation than rational calculation."

One possible Democrat contender at this early stage is former armed forces chief Djoko Suyanto, the low-profile chief security minister who political analysts are teaming with economic coordinating minister Hatta Rajasa.

Despite Yudhoyono's persistent denials, First Lady Kristiani may also have leadership ambitions, but questions remain about the extent of her popularity and, more importantly, whether voters will accept a husband-and-wife succession.

Despite the split between the two in the lead up to the 2009 election, wholly predictable under the circumstances, Kalla has continued to have regular meetings with Yudhoyono and could be relied on to protect him in the presidential afterlife.

While age is his obvious handicap, he does say the right things when the occasion demands, appears in good health with a diet of mainly soup and steamed fish, has an engaging personality, and would serve as a bridge between the Democrats and Golkar.

Could a non-Javanese win the presidency for the first time in a direct vote? It has to happen sooner or later and Kalla is not exactly a stranger to most Javanese constituents, who make up roughly two-thirds of the national electorate.

As a vehicle, Golkar appears to be out - at least for now. Certainly, the message coming out of two recent leadership meetings is that Bakrie, 64, is the preferred candidate, if for no other reason than because he is the party's leading financier as well as its chairman.

But he is still undecided and that leaves open the possibility that he might step aside for someone else perceived to be more electable. He says it depends on the polls, which have had him hovering at only 3 per cent for much of this year.

"In spite of the polls, you have to start with whether Bakrie is qualified for the job," says one party stalwart. "If you agree on that, then you start on the operational steps. We are not passively following the polls, but actively projecting him as a candidate."

Still, mainstream Indonesian voters do not like tycoons, especially those playing by old rules. Bakrie's image has also been tarnished by his company's role in triggering East Java's disastrous mud volcano, which has alienated the nation's second biggest voting blocks.

And that's not all. Even people in the Bakrie camp acknowledge that it will be a difficult task for a man who is regarded more as a kingmaker than a king and who is still burdened by an unpaid tax issue the media would not let him forget and other debt problems dogging his flagship mining company.

While Kalla was responsible for bringing Bakrie into the first Yudhoyono government, the pair are only friends - not allies. Of more concern for Bakrie is the shadow cast by Golkar chief patron Akbar Tandjung, 67, who remains active in party affairs around the country.

Golkar's main focus is on winning an ambitious 25 percent of the vote in the parliamentary elections, where the polls indicate it stands a solid chance of deposing the faltering Democrats and taking back its place as the dominant party.

Given the way the balance of power between the executive and the legislative branches has shifted over the past few years of Yudhoyono's reign, gaining the upper hand in Parliament may well be a more valuable prize than winning the presidency.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.