Election promises mostly unworkable, analyst says<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Presidential candidates made lofty promises and developed
\nunfeasible policies in their campaigns, which were purely about
\ngetting elected, analysts said.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) analyst Dewi Fortuna
\nAnwar said the programs presented by the candidates in their
\nmonth-long campaigns were mostly unattainable. Most contained no
\nclear plans of action, she said.<\/p>\n
\"In her campaign, the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle's (PDI-P) incumbent President Megawati (Soekarnoputri)
\nrepeatedly pledged to create 12 million jobs during her next
\nterm.<\/p>\n
\"But she fell short of mentioning how much foreign investment
\nthe country would need and how fast the economy would need to
\ngrow to create these jobs given the current situation,\" she said
\nduring a discussion at the General Elections Commission (KPU)
\ndata center.<\/p>\n
Dewi said other candidates also made grandiose pledges.
\n\"Amien Rais always says he will ban all rice imports to support
\nlocal farmers, but what if a prolonged drought strikes the
\ncountry and staple food become scarce, would he still stick to
\nhis promise -- I don't think so,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Hamzah Haz also pledged to provide free education for all
\nwithout explaining how he would fund such a program, she said.<\/p>\n
Prominent lawyer and human rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis
\nsaid all the candidates had failed to come up with detailed plans
\nof action to fix the nation's problems.<\/p>\n
\"All the candidates spoke about eradicating corruption in
\ntheir campaigns. But I never heard any of them set targets about
\nhow many people they would try for graft offenses during the
\nfirst three months of their administration,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A good start would have been for the candidates to have
\npledged to try 12 tycoons implicated in the misuse of the Bank
\nIndonesia Liquidity fund (BLBI), Todung said.<\/p>\n
Todung has been touted as one of the strongest candidates for
\nthe Attorney General's post in the next administration.<\/p>\n
Togung and Dewi said the General Elections Commission should
\noblige the top-two polling candidates to draw up realistic and
\nconcrete programs for their campaigns in the likely election
\nrunoff in September.<\/p>\n
\"The candidates should also provide road maps on how they
\nwould achieve these programs,\" Dewi said.<\/p>\n
These road maps would help the next administration begin its
\nwork quickly. \"Three months is very short time and we don't want
\nthe next government to spend it figuring out what to do,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
KPU official Hamid Awaluddin said the commission planned to
\nask second-round candidates to present detailed programs in their
\ncampaigns.<\/p>\n
\"The presidential election law clearly requires candidates to
\ndraw up specific programs, instead of the general plans they made
\nin the first round,\" he said.<\/p>",
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