Asia Foundation democracy survey

The Jakarta Post has twice referred to The Asia Foundation survey, Democracy in Indonesia: A Survey of the Indonesian Electorate 2003. While we strongly appreciate your coverage, we regret that the Post has made a narrow reading of the survey that emphasizes only one finding: That Indonesian voters long for a strong leader (first covered in the Post on Dec. 9, 2003, as Voters hope for strong leader, survey finds). More importantly, while presenting the finding you left out the Foundation's own analysis of this finding. We feel compelled to write about this issue as we see the Post has continued to use its interpretation in a subsequent article (the Post, Dec. 23: Polls to disappoint reformists).

The claim, "the majority of people eligible to vote in this year's general election here are politically alienated, intolerant and hoping for a strong leader like former dictator president Soeharto", is not the main message our survey delivers. We see this as a selective reading of the survey that ignored an extremely important analysis of this finding, which should probably be seen as a repudiation of what is perceived as ineffective governance, not of democracy itself.

It would not be correct to associate the finding with a desire to return to Soeharto's repressive dictatorship. Our cross- tabulations indicate that support for decisive government is stronger among those who strongly support democracy.

Moreover, your reading of the survey completely ignored the overwhelming optimism that Indonesians feel about the upcoming election. Our survey suggests that while Indonesian voters are critical of their leaders and institutions, they have gained confidence that elections make a difference, and still want to participate in massive numbers. Today, more Indonesians associate democracy with elections than they did four years ago.

Your continued narrow interpretation of our survey does not reflect the actual popular mood in Indonesia. We kindly ask you to refer to the results of The Asia's Foundation 2003 Survey on the Electorate in a more comprehensive manner, and resist the urge to be pessimistic about democracy in Indonesia.

SANDRA HAMID Election Program Manager The Asia Foundation Jakarta