'I can see SBY faces a lot of problems'

'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