Voters 'politically mature'

Kurniawan Hari and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

The fact that most members of political parties did not support the candidate backed by their party is evidence of the country's political maturity, analysts said on Thursday.

They said that party coalitions would, therefore, not ensure the victory of a particular candidate in the Sept. 20 runoff.

"Voters are able to make their own decisions, they have their own preferences," said Eep Saefulloh Fatah of the University of Indonesia (UI).

Similarly, analyst Indria Samego of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the July 5 election proved that political leaders like Akbar Tandjung, Wiranto or Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, were unable to control their followers.

Survey results released on Wednesday showed that about 57 percent of respondents who were members of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) toed the party line and voted for Amien Rais, while 24 percent said they voted for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

A few days before the PKS announced its official endorsement of Amien, the party was said to have been torn between Amien and Wiranto. However, it turned out that only nine percent of its members said they voted for Wiranto.

Of members of Nahdlatul Ulama, 33 percent said they voted for Wiranto -- largely due to the endorsement of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is closely associated with the NU -- while 32 percent said they voted for Susilo.

Of respondents who are members of Muhammadiyah -- the second largest Muslim organization after the NU -- 54 percent followed their leaders' endorsement to vote for Amien, while 21 percent voted for Susilo.

The survey involved 4,511 respondents across the country on election day.

Eep also said that political machines were proven unable to direct support toward a particular candidate.

Coalitions between parties to face the runoff would only be effective in establishing a strong government, Eep added.

Indria concurred, saying that coalitions built by political parties should not be aimed at securing the presidency.

"The coalitions will not be effective. The people will not follow the instructions of their leaders, (coalitions) should be designed to win support for House of Representatives members," Indria said.

The two suggested that the newly elected president coalesce with other political parties that had secured seats in the House. Otherwise they would face a tough challenge in ruling the country, they said.

Eep said the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla ticket would probably face a harder challenge in the runoff as the Wiranto- Solahuddin Wahid duo -- backed by the Golkar Party and the PKB -- would likely coalesce with the Megawati Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi ticket, nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

"Golkar and the PDI-P have a tradition of coalition in the past three years," he argued.

He said that Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung would unlikely form a coalition with Susilo, because the latter was one of those opposed to the Golkar convention last year to select its presidential candidate.