Akbar trails behind Prabowo: Poll

Akbar trails behind Prabowo: Poll

Kurniawan Hari and Ainur Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Surabaya

The Supreme Court's controversial verdict clearing Golkar
chairman Akbar Tandjung of graft appears to have done little to
restore his popularity among the party faithful ahead of the
Golkar national convention, a recent survey has revealed.

The survey of party members, conducted jointly by the London-
based Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and its Jakarta partner, the
National Leadership Center (NLC), ranked Akbar third among the
party's possible presidential candidates behind Prabowo Subianto,
a former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad).

Prabowo, who is married to a daughter of former president
Soeharto and is widely believed to have been involved in past
intrigue and rights abuses, won the support of 34 percent of the
respondents, with Akbar in a distant second with 13 percent.
Former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto was third
with 11 percent, followed by Jusuf Kalla (3 percent), Surya Paloh
(1 percent), and Aburizal Bakrie (less than 1 percent). The
remaining respondents (26 percent) preferred other candidates.

Golkar is scheduled to shortly hold a national convention to
elect its sole presidential candidate. Muslim scholar Nurcholish
Madjid and Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X have withdrawn from
the contest on ethical grounds.

"The results of this survey are surprising. Why is Prabowo
garnering the most support? Possibly, it's because of his
leadership skills," NLC co-founder Taufik Bahaudin told a press
briefing here on Tuesday.

The survey involved 182 respondents who said they were Golkar
supporters. The error of margin was estimated at 7.3 percent.

The survey was part of a wider survey on Indonesian voters'
presidential preferences, which put former senior security
minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on top.

Separately, Kalla, who is the coordinating minister for
people's welfare, was confident he could win the votes of more
than 220 Golkar regency/municipality branches.

"I will not quit the convention. I believe I will get support
from regency/municipality branches in eastern Indonesia, Sumatra,
and East Java," he said on the sidelines of his ministerial visit
to Surabaya on Tuesday.

Kalla suggested that the convention's organizing committee
remain calm in response to moves by Wiranto and Surya Paloh to
gather together the leaders of party regency/municipality
branches for private meetings.

Golkar officials suspect that such meetings could lead to
bribery and other unsavory practices, thereby tarnishing the
image of the convention.

During the event, to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Central
Jakarta, all six candidates will be required to briefly explain
their programs before the electors, who will comprise leaders of
the party's central board and regional branches, as well as
representatives of its affiliated organizations.

Meanwhile, the rector of Semarang-based Diponegoro University,
Eko Budihardjo, said Akbar would visit the university on April 26
for a debate with the presidential candidates of a number of
other parties. During the debate, they would be required to
explain their policies to the university's academic community.

Eko called on students to refrain from organizing rallies on
campus while the debate was taking place.

"It would be OK if the rallies were held off campus," Eko
said, adding nevertheless that students should concentrate on
questioning the presidential candidates about their policies
during the debate rather than demonstrating.