THE political sphere is as round as a soccer ball. The direction the ball will move in depends on who will do the kicking. Under Jusuf Kalla, the Golkar Party is known to be an ardent supporter of the government, while a year ago senior Golkar officials were busy driving the party away from the center of power.

In those days, Akbar Tandjung was the general chairman of the party. He successfully led Golkar to win the most votes in the 2004 General