SBY's economic team 'loses public trust'

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People are losing confidence in the government's economic team, who they see as responsible for the current financial crisis -- the worst in this country in over four years, a survey revealed.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, however, remained popular among 1,000 respondents surveyed. The respondents, representing over 60 million eligible voters who chose Susilo in the 2004 presidential election, admitted they had high expectations that he could lead the nation out of its doldrums.

The survey was conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) in all 33 provinces several days before the rupiah hit a four- year low at Rp 11,800 against the U.S. dollar on early Tuesday trading.

It revealed that more than 37 percent of respondents were disappointed with the current economic condition, and only 21 percent said it was satisfactory.

"The number of respondents who expressed their discontent with the economic condition would certainly have increased if the survey were conducted when this monetary crisis was at its lowest ebb (on Tuesday morning)," LSI researcher Denny J.A. said during the survey's presentation here on Wednesday.

The rupiah has continued to weaken over the past two weeks, before bouncing back a bit on Tuesday afternoon after the central bank announced new monetary policies.

Denny said the respondents' unwillingness to directly blame the President for the crisis was an interesting phenomenon.

"While 43.7 percent of respondents blamed the President's economic ministers for the bad economic condition, almost 65 percent of respondents were satisfied with the way Susilo had been leading the nation and his administration. That figure is higher than the percentage of his voters in the presidential election," said Denny, who was among a group of young scholars who Susilo consulted with following his election victory last year.

More than 52 percent of the respondents were satisfied with political and security ministers and 41 percent hailed the performance of ministers dealing with people's welfare.

Denny added that the President had been buoyed not so much by his government's performance, but by his personality.

The survey said more than 74 percent of respondents believed that Susilo was honest, 92 percent believed he was clever, 93 percent were convinced he had strong leadership skills, 86 percent deemed him a good communicator and 75 percent were confident of his strong commitment to fighting for the people's interests.

More than 70 percent of the respondents expressed their satisfaction with the government's performance in handling corruption in the bureaucracy, criminal activity, gambling, drug abuse and natural disasters.

The survey recommended that the government focus on economic issues since almost 62 percent of the respondents said the economy was the most important factor for the nation's future.

Mohammad Qodari, another LSI political analyst, called on the President to carry on with the strategic measures to regain the public trust.

"Although difficult, SBY has to choose between two realistic alternatives: dismissing his economic ministers or increasing fuel prices," he said.

A change of economic ministers would pit Susilo against the Golkar Party, which Vice President Jusuf Kalla leads, while another fuel price hike would spark anger among the general public, Qodari said.

"Of the two tough options, replacing the economic ministers looks better, but perhaps the President could appoint independent economists, who are recommended by Golkar," suggested Qodari.