Balance of power with Vice President Kalla
Although he had won the Presidency, Yudhoyono was still weak in the Indonesian parliament, the People's Representative Council (DPR). The Democratic Party, even combined with all of its coalition partners, had far fewer representatives than Golkar and the PDI-P, which played the role of opposition.
With a national congress to be held in December 2004, Yudhoyono and Kalla had originally backed Agung Laksono speaker to become Golkar chairman. When Agung was perceived to be too weak to run against Akbar, Yudhoyono and Kalla threw their weight behind Surya Paloh. Finally, when Paloh was perceived to be too weak to run against Akbar, Yudhoyono gave the green light for Kalla to run for the Golkar Chairmanship.[22] On 19 December 2004, Kalla was elected as the new chairman of Golkar.
Kalla's victory posed a dilemma for Yudhoyono. Although it now enabled Yudhoyono to pass legislation, Kalla's new position meant that he was now more powerful than Yudhoyono in terms of influence in parliament.
After the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Kalla, apparently on his own initiative, assembled Ministers and signed a Vice Presidential decree ordering work to begin on rehabilitating Aceh. The legality of his Vice Presidential decree was questioned[23] although Yudhoyono maintained that it was he who gave the orders for Kalla to proceed.
In September 2005, when Yudhoyono went to New York to attend the annual United Nations Summit, he left Vice President Kalla in charge. Yudhoyono held a video conference from New York to receive reports from ministers. Critics suggest that this was an expression of distrust by Yudhoyono.[24] The suggestion seemed to gain momentum when Kalla only showed up for one video conference and then spent the rest of the time taking care of Golkar matters.
The alleged rivalry resurfaced again in October 2006 when Yudhoyono established the Presidential Work Unit for the Organization of Reform Program (UKP3R). He tasked it with improving the conditions for business investment, executing government diplomacy and administration, improving the performance of the state-owned enterprises, expanding the role of small and medium businesses, and improving law enforcement as a whole.[25] The UKP3R was headed by Marsillam Simanjuntak, who served as Attorney General during the Wahid Presidency.
In February 2007, Yudhoyono added welfare to UKP3R's tasks by ordering them to also put focus on the abolition of poverty, the direct cash assistance, public service as well as assisting programs in health and education[26] There were accusations that this was an attempt by Yudhoyono to exclude Kalla from government. Yudhoyono was quick to clarify that in supervising UKP3R, he would be assisted by Kalla.[27]