Campaigns do little to boost image: Experts

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

Due to the limited period allocated for the upcoming presidential campaign, the whole exercise is likely to have a limited impact on people's presidential choices, experts say.

M. Qodari, deputy director of the Indonesia Survey Institute (LSI), said here on Monday that more than 70 percent of some 150 million voters in the July 5 election had already made up their minds despite the fact that the one-month campaign period would only start on June 1.

"Our last survey reveals that some 70 percent of voters had made up their minds before the legislative election," Qodari told reporters after addressing a two-day international conference on the political campaign on Monday.

The legislative election was held on April 5.

Qodari did not say when the survey was conducted and how many people were polled.

He surmised that based on the survey Megawati Soekarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono enjoyed a better chance of winning the country's first ever direct presidential election on July 5.

Being the incumbent President, Megawati, who is the daughter of founding father Sukarno, is probably the most popular among presidential aspirants, while Susilo, who served as coordinating minister for political and security affairs under both Megawati and former president Abdurrahman Wahid, became known when his rift with Megawati became public in March.

Susilo, who had chosen former coordinating minister for people's welfare Jusuf Kalla as his vice presidential candidate, has topped virtually all surveys conducted in the past few months.

National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais, United Development Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz and Gen. (ret) Wiranto are also running for the presidential post in the upcoming election.

Most aspirants failed to provide constituents with sufficient information because they were reluctant to use communication tools such as telephone or letters and instead met people in person, which is expensive and inefficient, Qodari said.

"Worse, campaign strategists of some presidential candidates were only appointed several months before the start of the campaign period. They later established some command posts or other methods to support their election. What do you expect from a top-down policy like that?" he said.

Megawati's PDI-P has established posts in neighborhood units (RT) across the country, while Wiranto decided to set up stalls (warung) called Warung Wiranto. Some forums have also been established across the country to support the nomination of Susilo and Kalla.

Ruslan Prijadi, director of the University of Indonesia's management institute of the School of Economics, agreed with Qodari, saying that a political campaign was not a simple task because it required lobbying, fund-raising, grassroots politics, liaison with the government, handling the media as well as political leadership and appreciating the ethical dimensions of public life.

"Campaigns all over the world have realized that there is no more room for amateurism. Campaigns are a serious business and they require professional management if they want to be successful," he told the seminar.

Meanwhile, Edward Grefe of the George Washington University said the United States had acknowledged the presence of political campaign counselors since 1960 to help presidential campaigns.

"Because their parties usually are not able to support the presidential candidates in their campaigns professionally," he said.