Anti-KKN drives not serious: Survey
Anti-KKN drives not serious: Survey
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has failed to combat
corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), leaving many big KKN
cases untouched during her first 100 days in power, a survey
revealed.
More than half, 50.9 percent, of 800 respondents surveyed by
the New Indonesian Alliance (PIB) said Megawati's Cabinet had
failed to create an image that the present leadership was free of
KKN because of numerous unresolved corruption cases. Only 21.5
percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the way the
government had handled corruption cases.
"Most respondents believe that Attorney General M.A. Rachman
has not been serious in fighting corruption," the survey
revealed.
On the economic front, 52.4 percent of respondents said they
were not happy with the way Megawati's Cabinet had dealt with
economic problems, pointing at the weakening rupiah, the high
unemployment rate and the rising prices of several basic
commodities. Up to 48.8 percent of respondents gave the thumbs
down to the performance of Megawati's economic team under
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti.
Only 29.8 percent said that there had been an improvement in
the economy since Megawati took over the leadership from
Abdurrahman Wahid on July 23, 2001.
The majority of respondents, however, expressed satisfaction
over the government's performance in maintaining order and
security.
"At least 48.8 percent of respondents said that Megawati had
managed to handle security and defense problems well and only
34.4 percent of respondents believed she had failed to handle the
problems, while 16.9 percent answered 'do not know' to the
questions," PIB Chairman Sjahrir told a media conference in
Jakarta on Monday.
Regarding Megawati's foreign policy, 41.5 percent of
respondents said that Megawati had succeeded, while 27.9 percent
thought she had failed, 30.6 percent said they did not know.
The survey was conducted in 11 cities including Jakarta, Medan
in North Sumatra, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java,
Pontianak in West Kalimantan and Denpasar in Bali.
PIB conducted telephone interviews with a total of 800
respondents using random sampling with a sampling error of 3.4
percent.
During the media conference, Sjahrir also called on Taufik
Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, to
resign from the House of Representatives claiming he could not
carry out his duties as a legislator properly while also acting
as the husband of the President.
"As the first husband, he already has his hands full," PIB
Chairman Sjahrir told the media conference on Tuesday evening.
He said that one of the reasons why the public still believed
President Megawati to be unable to improve the government's
performance is due to conflicts of interest between politicians
in both the executive and legislative institutions.
Sjahrir also urged Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril
Ihza Mahendra and the head of the National Intelligence Agency
(BIN), A.M. Hendropriono, to leave their private jobs so that
they could concentrate on their jobs in government.