Susilo, Kalla pairing people's choice: Poll

Susilo, Kalla pairing people's choice: Poll

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The favorite pairing for the next president and vice president is
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, cofounder of the Democratic Party and
Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party, a survey which findings were
revealed on Friday said.

The couple defeated president incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri
and Vice President Hamzah Haz, the survey by the Soegeng Sarjadi
Syndicated (SSS) showed. Held in 33 cities/regencies in 15
provinces, it revealed that Susilo, the former security minister,
was prefered for president by 43 percent of 5,000 respondents
while Megawati was only chosen by 20.5 respondents.

"With Susilo's military background and Jusuf's business
experience, people viewed them as an ideal pair that could solve
current problems security and economics," SSS executive director
Sukardi Rinakit said.

The results echoed that of recent polls such as the one by the
Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) in which most of 2,760
respondents in 32 provinces prefered Susilo as the sixth
president.

The poll conducted between April 10-14 placed the leader of
National Mandate Party Amien Rais (11.78 percent), Golkar leader
Akbar Tandjung (7.5 percent) and former military chief Gen. (ret)
Wiranto (5.28 percent), in the third, fourth and fifth place.

For vice president, Sukardi said respondents favored Kalla who
is also Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare (20.5 percent)
over Hidayat Nurwahid, leader of the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), who gained 15.78 percent.

The results showing the preferred couple was "surprising",
Sukardi said, adding that the names were given by respondents who
replied to open questions.

He said people viewed Susilo as the underdog victimized by the
Megawati leadership, just like the reaction reflected in the
results of the 1999 elections toward Megawati herself and her
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) under the
oppressive New Order regime.

Observer Muslim Abdurrahman who also addressed the discussion
of the survey's presentation, urged people close to Susilo and
Kalla to convince them to coalesce.

"In particular people close to Kalla should convince him to
resign from the current Golkar convention," Muslim said, even
though Kalla has indicated that he might be more interested in
the vice presidency.

According to a survey conducted by Kompas daily involving
2,006 respondents which was announced on Monday, 58.7 percent of
respondents preferred a national leader with military
backgrounds.