Candidates promise to improve education
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The two presidential candidates wrapped up the three-day dialog with a similar pledge of improving the poor state of education.
With a lower audience turnout, the program ran beyond the General Elections Commission's expected time limit as it had to cancel the signing of a mutual agreement between the two candidates to uphold a peaceful election runoff.
According to the commission's original plan, the two contenders would cap the campaign period with the signing of the pact and a handshake to mark their commitment to peaceful elections.
The country will see a three-day cooling-off period before Monday's runoff.
Candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was the first to rise to the podium in the televised dialog on Thursday, attributed the poor state of education to low government spending.
"In the next five years of our administration, we will try our best to approach the 20 percent benchmark set by the Constitution," Susilo said, in response to a question raised by panelist Aida Hitalaya Hubeis of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB).
Susilo said that meeting the Constitution's demand was within the government's reach, if the country's economy could grow at a sufficient rate and the future administration could boost efficiency.
"Among other things, we must defer the construction of unnecessary buildings and the purchase of luxury cars for state officials. Tax expansion and profits accrued from state-owned enterprises could also be another source of funding," Susilo said.
His running mate Jusuf Kalla added that well-off and economically disadvantaged students would pay different fees. "The rich must pay more for their education, while the poor will pay less," he said.
Susilo, who attributed the nation's declining morality to obscenity and violence shown on television, was intent on regulating TV programs with violent material.
Meanwhile, President Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi, declined to addressing the issue by spending more. Megawati instead focused on improving teachers' welfare.
"Our teachers live in a poor conditions, how can we expect them to teach our children properly?" she said, adding that her future government was set to include the teachers in a national social security scheme.
Megawati and Hasyim also pledged to recruit more teachers and streamline the current curriculum, which they said was too heavy for students.
"Among the problems is the redundant curriculum. Once a new education minister is installed, the curriculum will also be changed. We need to streamline it," she said, responding to a question raised by education expert Ki Supriyoko of Taman Siswa foundation.
When asked by panelist Seto Mulyadi, a children's rights activist about the possibility of setting up a new ministry to handle problems plaguing the country's children, Megawati only said: "It won't be necessary, as the problems could be resolved by focusing on parents who cause the problems."