Candidates dialog receives cool response<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The much-awaited dialog involving the presidential candidates and
\ntheir running mates failed to draw much public interest on
\nTuesday, with less than half of the around 600 seats available
\nbeing occupied by the supporters of the two camps.<\/p>\n
The limited time allocated to the panelists to ask questions
\nand for the candidates to answer left the audience and television
\nviewers with more questions than answers as to how the candidates
\nwould run the country if elected.<\/p>\n
Most of the time, moderator Natalia Soebagyo was forced to
\nstop either the panelists or the presidential candidates and
\ntheir running mates due to the limited time allowed for each
\nquestion and answer.<\/p>\n
The two pairs of candidates -- Megawati Soekarnoputri and
\nrunning mate Hasyim Muzadi, and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and
\npartner Jusuf Kalla -- were given three minutes each to explain
\ntheir programs on security, political affairs, human rights and
\nlocal autonomy issues.<\/p>\n
The Megawati-Hasyim duo appeared first at 8 p.m., with the
\npanelists being sociologist Daniel Sparringa of Air Langga
\nUniversity in Surabaya, law expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the
\nUniversity of Indonesia (UI), and political analysts Ikrar Nusa
\nBakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and Maswardi
\nRauf of UI.<\/p>\n
Susilo and Kalla came on at 9 p.m., with the panelists this
\ntime being analysts Dewi Fortuna Anwar and Fachry Ali, law expert
\nRomli Atmasasmita and sociologist Bambang Soemantri.<\/p>\n
While the panelists were initially chosen by the General
\nElections Commission (KPU), the final say rested with the
\ncandidates.<\/p>\n
Appeared uneasy before the panelists, Megawati had to ask
\npanelists to repeat their questions several times, and had to
\nrush to answer the questions as the moderator repeatedly reminded
\nher that time was running out.<\/p>\n
Her running mate, Hasyim, showed more confidence in answering
\nthe questions and won applause from the audience.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Susilo and Kalla benefited from coming second as
\nboth the panelists and moderator appeared to have learned from
\nthe first session how to make more effective use of the one-hour
\ntime period allowed.<\/p>\n
Both Susilo and Kalla were clearly better prepared than
\nMegawati and Hasyim in answering the questions of the panelists.<\/p>\n
The audience was mostly made up of politicians, pollsters,
\npolitical analysts and journalists from various media outlets.<\/p>\n
Compared to the debate held by the KPU before the first round
\nof the presidential election last July 5, the dialog was more
\nrelaxed as none of the candidates felt "offended" by the
\nmoderator or panelists.<\/p>\n
Speaking for Megawati's camp, Pramono Anung Wibowo of the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party (PDI-P) said he was quite happy with
\nthe dialog and considered it to have been more effective than the
\nprevious dialog.<\/p>\n
"For us, the dialog this time around was more useful in
\nallowing us to articulate our views than it was the first time
\naround," he said.<\/p>\n
"The only problem was the lack of time. How can we explain our
\nprogram in only one hour," Pramono said after the dialog.<\/p>\n
He further contended that should Megawati appear to be
\nhesitant in answering the questions, it was simply because she
\nhad made no special preparations for the dialog.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Daniel Sparringa said after the dialog that it
\nwould do little to influence voter choices as most had already
\nmade up their minds.<\/p>\n
He also said that the voters would have preferred to see the
\ncandidates going face to face during the same session and
\nanswering the same questions.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/candidates-dialog-receives-cool-response-1447893297",
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