Poll casts doubt on President's leadership

JAKARTA (JP): Just two months after taking over the reins of national leadership, observers and opinion polls are already heaping doubt on the leadership of Abdurrahman Wahid.

A poll conducted by Jayabaya University found that despite the prevailing climate of democracy, urban dwellers had little faith in the government's ability to bring peace and security to the country by resolving regional tension.

Out of 2,000 respondents in Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan and Makassar, 50.75 percent doubted the government could ensure security in the country.

The survey seems to reflect a general mood in the country in that despite fears of rising tension, an overwhelming 61.85 percent agreed that the leadership of Abdurrahman and Megawati Soekarnoputri injected a sense of democracy back into politics.

There was also strong recognition of support in the economic field, with almost 51 percent also feeling that under the new government the economy was showing signs of improvement.

The poll was conducted between Nov. 27 to Dec. 20.

Separately, the Justice and National Unity Movement (GKPB) in a year-end media conference evaluating the performance of the new government, criticized Abdurrahman for being overly accommodative and compromising in composing his Cabinet which as a result has not functioned properly.

"He ignored competency and professionalism. Gradually people have been able to see for themselves that such a Cabinet is spending too much time just coordinating among them and not working for their respective departments," Zulvan said.

He added that public trust and real attempts for law enforcement could be indicators of increasing economic development.

Zulvan said that as security became more assured, investment would start to flow and help ease the country's economic turmoil.

He warned that if Abdurrahman did not inject consistency and assertiveness in his presidential leadership people would slowly lose faith in him.

"It is still hard to predict, but I'm afraid he won't be able to survive the full term of his presidency if he is still like this next year," he remarked. (emf)