'I can see SBY faces a lot of problems'

A year after winning the country's first direct presidential election, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), according to recent polls, has lost some of his popularity. The Jakarta Post interviewed residents to get their thoughts on the leadership of Susilo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK) over the past year.

Marli, 40, is a taxi driver who lives in Condet, East Jakarta. He has three children:

I am just a layman. How can I assess the performance of the President?

But I can see that he is facing a lot of problems, starting from the tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatra to the recent bombings in Bali.

He has tried to fight corruption by taking lots of people involved in corruption to court. But it doesn't seem that he has received the full support of the legal authorities.

Recent reports about former president Soeharto's half-brother Probosutedjo's alleged attempt to bribe officials at the Supreme Court shows that many officials do not support Susilo. They are still thinking about their own interests.

About the economy? I do not know. But I feel that the situation is becoming more and more difficult. The recent fuel price increases affected lots of ordinary people.

When taxi fares were increased it did not help taxi drivers like me because it meant fewer people were taking taxis. But we hope this will not last long.

Haryanto, 30, works at a company in Roxy, West Jakarta. He lives in Cimone subdistrict, Tangerang:

I don't think SBY can carry out his promises. During the election campaign, he said improving people's welfare was his priority.

But it seems the situation has become more difficult under his leadership. He has increased fuel prices by more than 100 percent. Of course, he knows the impact of this on the people will be very severe. But he is unlikely to revoke the policy.

I just hope SBY's government will allocate much more money for the poor who are affected the most by this policy.

You can see on television that there are lots of people still asking for cash assistance to help them survive the higher fuel prices.

-- The Jakarta Post