Megawati rated highly despite govt's failures: Survey

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has performed better than all other national political leaders currently in office, even as her government is deemed to be failing in delivering the goods, according to a recently published survey.

More than 53 percent of 3,580 people polled said they were satisfied with Megawati's performance, compared with 51 percent for Vice President Hamzah Haz, 22 percent for corruption scandal suspect House Speaker Akbar Tandjung and 43 percent for People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais.

With the presidential election two years away, the finding could be an indication of their standing today, as the four leaders are the main contenders for the 2004 election: All chair their respective political parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the United Development Party (PPP), the Golkar Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

With none of the contenders holding a commanding lead, the 2004 election promises to be a very close contest.

The survey, carried out in April by Taylor Nelson Sofres Indonesia in cooperation with the International Foundation for Election System (IFES) Indonesia, was commissioned by the House and the MPR to test public opinion about the current political situation.

That she outperformed all the other political leaders seemed to be about the only good news for Megawati.

The respondents virtually gave the thumbs-down when it came to the performance of her government. The majority (62 percent) said the government had not brought about any improvement, and only 34 percent felt there had been some progress.

The 3,580 respondents were selected randomly from urban (36 percent) and rural (64 percent) areas in all 30 provinces, with 49 percent of them men and 51 percent women.

IFES was one of only a few institutions that had predicted that Golkar would come second in the 1999 general election. Most other surveys, because of their strong urban bias, had virtually written off the party, which had propped up the autocratic Soeharto for more than 30 years. They were wide of the mark.

The survey results were compared with those from a similar poll conducted in June 2001 and in July 2000.

IFES said this year's survey showed that more people had opinions on most matters compared with the earlier surveys, suggesting that public political awareness has risen. Fewer people answered "Don't know" or "Don't have an answer".

In this year's survey, the 53 percent public satisfaction rating for Megawati marks a slight increase from the 51 percent she received in June 2001, one month before she was promoted from her post as vice president to replace Abdurrahman Wahid. Her 2002 rating was nevertheless lower than the 58 percent she enjoyed in 2000.

The presidency, as an institution, scored highest in terms of performance compared with all other high state institutions.

Just over half (52 percent) said they were satisfied, while 38 percent said they were not satisfied with the presidency.

It is difficult to gauge whether this rating is good or not for a president who is about to enter only her second year of office. Megawati has been widely criticized for not doing enough to further the national reform agenda. The criticism is growing following her latest two-week trip to Europe.

The survey found that only 45 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the performance of the MPR, and 39 percent were not. One of the MPR's chief tasks is to amend the Constitution, including improving the electoral mechanism.

The House, which is falling way behind in its legislative task, received an even worse rating, with 32 percent satisfied as against 52 percent dissatisfied.

On the national reform agenda, more than half of the respondents (55 percent) said they were satisfied with the ongoing process of democratization. Only 27 percent said they were dissatisfied.

Greater discontent is found in other fields however:

* Law enforcement (42 percent satisfied as against 44 percent not)

* Decentralization/regional autonomy (41 percent, 33 percent)

* The quest for a clean government (40 percent, 46 percent)

* The battle against corruption (38 percent, 51 percent).

On their welfare compared with a year earlier, 55 percent of respondents said their conditions were unchanged, 33 percent said theirs had improved, and 12 percent said they were worse off.

On the security situation, 48 percent of the respondents said things had hardly changed as against 41 percent who felt there had been some improvements and 10 percent who said things had turned for the worse.

Asked to list the greatest problems facing the nation, 70 percent cited the deteriorating economy, 11 percent political conflicts, followed by racial/ethnical/religious conflicts, lack of security and legal certainty, and corruption.

On immediate problems facing respondents, the high price of goods topped the list, at 55 percent, followed by difficulties in finding a job, at 18 percent.