Indonesians 'want direct presidential elections'

JAKARTA (JP): A recent survey conducted by the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) has revealed that most Indonesians support a direct presidential election system.

Nuri Soeseno of Cetro said on Wednesday that a survey conducted on 1,998 respondents in five major cities, found that 72.6 percent approve the direct election of the president by the public in the 2004 general election.

Only 19.5 percent of respondents prefer the existing system, which is stipulated in the 1945 Constitution, whereby the People's Consultative Assembly elects the president and vice president.

About 0.8 percent want the Assembly to filter the candidates before letting the people directly vote, while 0.3 percent of respondents want a two step system with political parties who gain the most votes in one election to propose candidates for a second general election.

Over six percent of respondents had no preference.

The survey was conducted between May and June in Jakarta; Medan, North Sumatra; Surabaya, East Java; Ujung Pandang, South Sulawesi; and Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

Hadar N. Gumay, also of Cetro, said that the five cities were selected because of their dynamic nature, adding that those interviewed were considered to be the decision makers in their families.

Hadar maintained that the margin of error for the poll is three percent. He insisted that the polls are considered 95 percent dependable.

Previous surveys conducted by several news publications produced similar results.

Nuri also pointed out that based on the survey the support for a direct presidential election was not prompted by adulation of a national figure.

She noted that nearly 60 percent of those who supported a direct election did not name whom they would support as president.

Out of the candidates chosen by respondents, vice president Megawati Soekarnoputri received the highest support with 12.7 percent followed by Assembly Speaker Amien Rais with 9.2 percent.

President Abdurrahman Wahid only came in sixth, just ahead of former vice president Try Sutrisno and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

Coming well ahead of Abdurrahman was former president B.J. Habibie, Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid, along with Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

The negative reflection towards Abdurrahman's government was also evident in the survey as 94 percent of respondents felt it had done little or nothing to improve conditions in the country.

Despite the seemingly low number of those selecting Abdurrahman Wahid, a majority also expressed their support for him to continue to the end of his term in 2004.

"This shows that the people are more concerned in developing the system rather than just supporting a public figure," Nuri remarked.

She added that the support for Abdurrahman despite the negative reflection of his government's work may indicate that "the choice of keeping Gus Dur in office is only to honor the democratic mechanism or for a lack of a better alternative".

When asked to name the most crucial issues confronting the nation, 64 percent of respondents highlighted the economy, followed by politics, law, human rights and security.

The apparent focus toward more issue oriented platforms was also evident as nearly half of respondents said they would judge the coming presidential candidates by their programs. Few said charisma, intelligence or leadership was the crucial factor for consideration.

"A candidate for the 2004 election should formulate a good economic program if they want to win the votes of the people," Nuri concluded. (10)