Doubting people's intelligence

It seems that there is an effort underway aimed at preparing Indonesians for the fact that they will not be able to vote directly for the president and vice president during the 2004 elections.

This effort became clear recently when President Megawati Soekarnoputri expressed her doubt about the readiness of the people to elect their leaders directly.

Is it true that the people are not yet ready for direct elections? This seems questionable.

With the current system of indirect elections, there is the opportunity for the political elite to do some bargaining.

Direct elections would exclude that chance. The question is, who is not ready for direct elections -- the people or the political elite?

-- Republika, Jakarta