Most think Megawati unfit to retain power: Poll

Most think Megawati unfit to retain power: Poll

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A new survey supports the findings of recent research that has
said Indonesians cannot clearly identify anyone suitable to lead
the country after the next election.

The survey, carried out by the Center for Political Studies
(CPS) of the Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated polling agency, shows
that the top three national leaders -- President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, Vice President Hamzah Haz and People's
Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais -- are unfit to retain
power.

It even excluded current House of Representatives Speaker
Akbar Tandjung, who has been sentenced to three years
imprisonment for corruption, from the list of the 14 figures on
offer.

The top four national figures are expected to be the strongest
contenders in the first-ever direct presidential election,
scheduled for 2004.

"From the findings we can conclude that we have no person
eligible to become the next president," CPS executive director
Sukardi Rinakit, who oversaw the survey, told The Jakarta Post
after releasing it on Wednesday.

His organization's research apparently justified an earlier
survey, released last week by the Institute for Social and
Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES), which said
most of the 1,250 respondents considered no figure as being
suitable to lead the country.

The CPS survey involved 9,900 respondents from 14 major cities
across Indonesia: Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Yogyakarta,
Bandung, Bogor, Medan, Padang, Mataram, Pontianak, Samarinda,
Manado, Makassar and Denpasar.

The respondents, 17 to 25 years old and mostly university
students or graduates, were polled through direct interviews from
Sept. 11 through Sept. 17, 2002, at their respective cities.

They said Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X was the
national figure with the greatest likelihood of leading the
country after the 2004 elections. Second in the survey was
respected Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid.

Hamengkubuwono won the support of 12.65 percent of the
respondents, while only 11.82 percent backed Nurcholish (better
known as Cak Nur), who is rector of Paramadina Mulya University.

Megawati, once the most popular nationalist leader before the
1999 elections based on the findings of past research, was ranked
seventh with only 8.52 percent of the respondents in favor of
her, after chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
(10.83), Amien Rais (10.09), Minister of Justice and Human Rights
Yusril Ihza Mahendra (9.10) and former Indonesian Military chief
Wiranto (8.54).

Hamzah Haz, also chairman of the United Development Party
(PPP) -- the third-largest faction in the House -- was eighth, at
4.64 percent, after former president Soeharto's eldest daughter
Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana (5.38).

Another five noted figures, Ryaas Rasyid, Jusuf Kalla,
Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Maarif, Nahdlatul Ulama chairman
Hasyim Muzadi and Solahuddin Wahid, received much less support
from the majority of the respondents.

However, the survey said Cak Nur was the best in terms of
intellectual suitability and vision as well the most honest of
the 14 figures, while the sultan was considered to be the most
charismatic, being the most moral and courageous when it came to
decision-making.

Hamengkubuwono, Cak Nur, Syafii and Hasyim were named the
national leaders with the least likelihood of engaging in
corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN).

Surprisingly, the survey placed Megawati, Amien and Hamzah in
the same category as both Tutut and Wiranto as leaders liable to
KKN.

Commenting on the survey's findings, political analyst Eep
Saefullah said they showed that most Indonesians, particularly
the educated young generation, were opposed to the political
leaders currently in power retaining their positions.

"The survey indicates that antipolitical sentiment is on the
rise at present among our intellectual elite after four years of
reform.

"This could endanger the consolidation of democracy and open
the door to antidemocratic or authoritarian forces to make a
comeback because the current democratic state has failed to
maintain the nation's political, social and economic stability,"
Eep said.