Wanted: A credible president

Wanted: A credible president

Good leadership is important, particularly at a time of an
acute national crisis. Is Indonesia undergoing a leadership
crisis? The Jakarta Post and the D&R news magazine commissioned a
poll to find out what people think about the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): A resounding majority of people believe
Indonesia has a leadership crisis, a new survey says.

The poll, involving 1,250 people in five cities, however found
that many people believe that one or two existing public figures
can rise to the challenge and become the next president of the
country, if given the chance.

Their idea of national leaders are those found outside the
present government structure: Megawati Soekarnoputri, Amien Rais,
Abdurrahman Wahid and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X fill the top four
slots as most favorite leaders. President B.J. Habibie is fifth.

The survey was conducted by the Resource Productivity Center
in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Padang and Medan. The 250
respondents in each of the five cities were selected at random,
comprising 65 percent men and 35 percent women.

Nearly 74 percent of the respondents agreed that there is a
national leadership crisis. Most pointed to the slow pace of
reform, and Habibie's failure to accommodate the people's
aspirations, as their main reasons.

Of the 25 percent who rejected the idea that there is a
crisis, 41 percent said many figures with the potential to lead
have not been given the chance. More than 26 percent who said
there was no crisis however insisted that Habibie is a legitimate
president.

Although the poll results reflect the low public opinion of
Habibie's leadership, 48 percent believe that the President
should be allowed to complete his term until he has organized
both a general election and a presidential election next year.

Only 44 percent believe that the four "Ciganjur leaders" --
Megawati, Amien, Abdurrahman and Hamengkubuwono, who met at
Abdurrahman's residence in Ciganjur last month -- should form a
transitional government and take over from Habibie.

Megawati is the chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) Perjuangan and daughter of Indonesia's first president
Sukarno; Amien led the reform campaign to force Soeharto to
resign in May and now chairs the People's Mandate Party (PAN);
Abdurrahman is a known prodemocracy leader and chairman of the
massive Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization: Hamengkubuwono is
the nationally respected ruler of the Yogyakarta sultanate.

Habibie, who has led since May, is Indonesia's third president
since independence in 1945. Although serving as a transitional
president until a successor is democratically elected next year,
he has not ruled out running for the post.

Indonesia's first two presidents, Sukarno (1945-1966) and
Soeharto (1966-1998), governed this huge archipelago with iron
fists, albeit in very different styles.

This raises the troubling question whether it would have been
possible for them to keep such a diverse nation united without
resorting to the use of force and intimidation. Can any
democratically elected leader keep the country together without
being constantly dogged by opponents? While Soeharto's downfall
has raised some hopes, history is not on Indonesia's side.

Most of the respondents (65 percent) hold out the hopes that
there are people capable of leading this country, but that he or
she has not yet emerged largely because of the repressive
political system (61 percent) and because of the constant
intervention of the Armed Forces in politics (32 percent).

Of the 34 percent respondents who took a pessimistic view
about the ability of anyone to lead the nation, 51 percent said
not a single existing public figure fulfilled the criteria for
becoming national leader, and 24 percent even said existing
leaders are only hungry for political power for themselves.

When asked to name two qualities most important in a leader,
"integrity and trustworthiness" came top, followed by "popular
support", "wise" and "visionary".

"Intelligence", "able to motivate others" and "piety" were not
rated too highly by respondents.

When asked to name and rate the figures that come closest to
the requisite qualities of a national leader, Megawati heads the
list with 44 percent, and Amien Rais is second with 31 percent.
Hamengkubuwono, Abdurrahman and Habibie are third, fourth and
fifth.

The poll asked respondents about the leadership strengths and
weaknesses of the four Ciganjur figures.

Megawati's main weaknesses include her being a political
novice and a female, while her main strengths are her widespread
support, her charisma and wisdom.

Amien's chief weaknesses are that he is seen as too ambitious
and lacking in principles, while his main strengths are his
intelligence and his image as a champion of reform.

Hamengkubuwono's main drawbacks are his image as a provincial
figure and that he lacks widespread support; his strengths are
that he is a simple and popular figure, and has charisma and
wisdom.

Abdurrahman's main weaknesses are his ailing health and, like
Amien, his lack of principles; his strengths are the widespread
support he enjoys, and that he has charisma and wisdom.

The majority of the respondents agreed that Indonesia's next
president should be elected directly by the people, rather than
by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as has been the
practice all this time and mandated by the constitution.

On many of the questions, the respondents were allowed to give
more than one answer, thus some of the given answers exceeded 100
percent. The results have a five percent error margin.