Military 'must be neutral' in presidency

JAKARTA (JP): Half of 997 respondents in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Medan said the Indonesian Military (TNI) should remain neutral in the presidential elections, while many expected TNI to take over power in case of a deadlock in the election, a survey revealed.

The survey, announced Wednesday, was conducted by the Center for the Study of Development and Democracy (CESDA) of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education, and Information (LP3ES).

The survey was conducted by door-to-door interviews in the three cities between July 5 to July 31 with 997 respondents, Imam Ahmad, the LP3ES director said.

Shobirin Nadj, the vice director, said that of the respondents "48.4 percent of the respondents demanded the military remain neutral in the presidential election."

A deadlock is predicted in the presidential election because none of the parties won a majority of votes to determine the presidential nomination.

When the poll took place in July, the two major presidential candidates receiving broad support were Megawati Soekarnoputri of PDI Perjuangan and President B.J. Habibie nominated by Golkar Party.

While most respondents wanted TNI to be neutral, "15.4 percent of respondents said that the military should support PDI Perjuangan candidate," Shobirin said.

Shobirin also said that 37.9 percent of the respondents believed that the military would take over power should a dead- lock occur in the presidential election scheduled for December.

On Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesian Military's Chief of Territorial Affairs, said that the military had prepared a number of measures should such a deadlock occur.

TNI, he said, would uphold security and facilitate the political elite to sit together to seek "a constitutional solution." Observers have said TNI would likely support Megawati given her party's victory in the poll and her conservative but popular image.

Regarding the presence of the military in the House of Representatives, "39.1 percent are in favor while 42.9 percent are against military presence in the House," Imam said.

TNI has 38 unelected seats in the House.

The survey also touched on voting behavior, in which 32.8 percent said they did not vote based on their religion.

Many religious-oriented parties performed poorly in the poll.

Fourteen percent of respondents thought the parties' programs were not interesting and another 13.6 percent found the parties' leaders not trustable, he said.

"This should be a warning sign to the parties' leaders to be more professional and to have more integrity, not merely selling religious sentiments," Imam said.

The survey also reflected the unsettled controversy over presidential candidates as 51.7 percent of respondents said the president should come from a party with the most votes.

"Our general election does not elect a president, but there is a public assumption that the winning party would have its candidate elected president," Imam said.

"Fifty-three percent of respondents supported a direct presidential election compared to 30.4 percent who were against the idea," Imam said. (05)