People want 'direct presidential elections'

People want 'direct presidential elections'

Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A majority of Indonesians want a direct presidential election
in 2004 and are pessimistic about the government's efforts to
combat corruption and street crime, according to the results of a
recent survey.

The survey was conducted by a consortium of well known polling
centers in the country between May and June this year and
included respondents from all provinces, including the conflict-
torn Aceh, Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Organizations involved in the survey were the Institute of
Research, Education and Information of Social and Economic
Affairs (LP3ES); the Research and Polling Center (RPC); the
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI); the Kompas Research and
Development Center; and the Center for the Study of Development
and Democracy (CESDA).

Results showed that the direct presidential election was
preferred by 69 percent of the 3,440 respondents.

Some 46 percent of the respondents wanted the candidates
proposed by political parties, 19 percent by the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) and 18 percent want independent
candidates.

Nearly half of the respondents (48 percent) said that the
president and vice president should be elected separately, not as
one team.

Researcher Syamsuddin Haris said when announcing the results
last week that the respondents' desire to have separate
presidential and vice presidential candidacy was interesting.

So far, vice presidents elected have been supported by the
president, ensuring that they will make suitable partners and
thus help ensure political stability.

Most major political parties have agreed to the direct
presidential and vice presidential elections but propose
different models.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
the party chaired by President Megawati has proposed that the
candidates should come from the general election winner, while
the Golkar Party wants a completely direct model, as adopted by
some democratic western countries.

The survey also ranks political parties which the respondents
perceive as having met public expectations. PDI Perjuangan tops
the list with 32 percent, a 6 percent increase from the July 2000
survey.

Other major political parties' popularity dropped below the
levels achieved in last year's survey.

As for combating corruption and street crime, most respondents
(62 percent) voiced their skepticism, up from last year's 49
percent.

They do not believe the Public Servants' Wealth Audit
Commission (KPKPN) is effective as a body to help create clean
governance, with 54 percent of respondents believing that the
officials do not report their wealth to the KPKPN honestly.