Poll shows students' choice of president

Poll shows students' choice of president

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A small-scale polling held at Gadjah Mada
University showed that 39.1 percent of student respondents want
to have a president with an "intellectual background".

The poll organizers, from the School of Economics and the Law
School, sent out 500 questionnaires to students in 18 faculties
at the university. Some 471 forms, or 94.2 percent, were returned
to the organizers.

Held between Aug. 12 and Sept. 10, the poll showed that the
respondents believed the next president should be elected from
among politicians (18.3 percent), activists of non-governmental
organizations (13.4 percent), technocrats (8.9 percent), literary
figures (7 percent), bureaucrats (6.3 percent), and business
people (4.1 percent).

The students also said they wanted leaders who were devout,
democratic, populist, just, open, anti-corruption, willing to be
criticized, visionary, and who were not nepotistic.

When asked whether they had any candidates in mind, the
students gave a long list of names, including Moslem scholar
Amien Rais (19.6 percent), State Minister of Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie (10.5 percent) and Vice President Try
Sutrisno (9.3 percent).

The university students have frequently held similar polls on
various political issues.

In the past there have been student polls that experts,
including Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro,
have criticized for lack of scientific rigor. (23)