Candidates dialog receives cool response

Candidates dialog receives cool response

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The much-awaited dialog involving the presidential candidates and
their running mates failed to draw much public interest on
Tuesday, with less than half of the around 600 seats available
being occupied by the supporters of the two camps.

The limited time allocated to the panelists to ask questions
and for the candidates to answer left the audience and television
viewers with more questions than answers as to how the candidates
would run the country if elected.

Most of the time, moderator Natalia Soebagyo was forced to
stop either the panelists or the presidential candidates and
their running mates due to the limited time allowed for each
question and answer.

The two pairs of candidates -- Megawati Soekarnoputri and
running mate Hasyim Muzadi, and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and
partner Jusuf Kalla -- were given three minutes each to explain
their programs on security, political affairs, human rights and
local autonomy issues.

The Megawati-Hasyim duo appeared first at 8 p.m., with the
panelists being sociologist Daniel Sparringa of Air Langga
University in Surabaya, law expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo of the
University of Indonesia (UI), and political analysts Ikrar Nusa
Bakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and Maswardi
Rauf of UI.

Susilo and Kalla came on at 9 p.m., with the panelists this
time being analysts Dewi Fortuna Anwar and Fachry Ali, law expert
Romli Atmasasmita and sociologist Bambang Soemantri.

While the panelists were initially chosen by the General
Elections Commission (KPU), the final say rested with the
candidates.

Appeared uneasy before the panelists, Megawati had to ask
panelists to repeat their questions several times, and had to
rush to answer the questions as the moderator repeatedly reminded
her that time was running out.

Her running mate, Hasyim, showed more confidence in answering
the questions and won applause from the audience.

Meanwhile, Susilo and Kalla benefited from coming second as
both the panelists and moderator appeared to have learned from
the first session how to make more effective use of the one-hour
time period allowed.

Both Susilo and Kalla were clearly better prepared than
Megawati and Hasyim in answering the questions of the panelists.

The audience was mostly made up of politicians, pollsters,
political analysts and journalists from various media outlets.

Compared to the debate held by the KPU before the first round
of the presidential election last July 5, the dialog was more
relaxed as none of the candidates felt "offended" by the
moderator or panelists.

Speaking for Megawati's camp, Pramono Anung Wibowo of the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI-P) said he was quite happy with
the dialog and considered it to have been more effective than the
previous dialog.

"For us, the dialog this time around was more useful in
allowing us to articulate our views than it was the first time
around," he said.

"The only problem was the lack of time. How can we explain our
program in only one hour," Pramono said after the dialog.

He further contended that should Megawati appear to be
hesitant in answering the questions, it was simply because she
had made no special preparations for the dialog.

Meanwhile, Daniel Sparringa said after the dialog that it
would do little to influence voter choices as most had already
made up their minds.

He also said that the voters would have preferred to see the
candidates going face to face during the same session and
answering the same questions.