Voters hope for strong leader, survey finds
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The majority of people eligible to vote in next year's general election here are politically alienated, intolerant and hoping for a strong leader like former dictator president Soeharto, according to a survey.
At least 65 percent of adults surveyed from June through until August 2003, said that they did not like politics at all because of widespread political corruption and poor political education.
People's interest in politics, however, had improved from 28 percent in 1999 to 38 percent in 2003.
The survey, titled Democracy in Indonesia: A Survey of the Indonesian Electorate 2003, was conducted through direct interviews and group discussions involving 1,056 eligible voters in 32 provinces, with a margin of error of around 3 percent.
Indonesia will hold a legislative election in April 2004 and first-ever direct presidential election in July. At least 24 political parties have been declared eligible to contest the elections, down from 48 in 1999.
The survey, which was conducted by Charney Research of New York and AC Nielsen Indonesia and commissioned by The Asia Foundation, suggested that the majority of voters were intolerant of political parties.
On the question: "Do you think that all political parties, even the ones most people do not like, should be allowed to hold meetings in your area?," the percentage of voters who answered "yes" eroded from 70 percent in 1999 to 57 percent this year.
The decline reflected continued concern about violence and political conflicts.
The survey said that older and illiterate voters, who were mostly living in rural areas, were less tolerant than younger and educated voters.
Last month, supporters of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) were involved in a clash with supporters of the Golkar Party in Buleleng, Bali. Two Golkar Party supporters were killed in the clash in the province considered to be a stronghold of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's PDI Perjuangan.
The survey indicated that voters were intolerant of minority groups also, 40 percent of the electorate were willing to vote for women, 8 percent would vote for Chinese candidates and only 6 percent would vote for candidates who were former political prisoners.
The Majority of the voters (66 percent) opposed the ban on former members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) from running for the House of Representatives, while 18 percent were still in favor of the ban.
Former PKI members have been banned from exercising their voting rights since the 1960s, following a failed coup d'etat the government blamed on PKI.
And four years into the so-called reform movement, the survey revealed that the majority of Indonesians favored a decisive government that could restore order, even at the cost of freedom.
It also said that 53 percent of the voters preferred a strong leader like former authoritarian Soeharto, even if rights and freedom were reduced.
About 58 percent of those who supported a stronger government at the expense of rights and freedom had an educational background of high school or more, the survey said.
Many earlier surveys showed that people's expectations of the return of "a normal situation" -- like what happened during Soeharto's regime when security and prices could be stabilized -- had failed to be realized, which was blamed on the current government.
The recent nomination of Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana by the Concern for The Nation Functional Party could revive the New Order and is said to be aimed at responding to the people's expectations.