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Yudhoyono seeks another term

— Photo: AFP

Recipe for victory: Presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri (left), with running mate Prabowo Subianto, prepare food for visitors at her residence in Jakarta on Tuesday.

SINGAPORE: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is seeking a second successive term at the helm, on the basis of his economic and security-related record as the first directly-elected chief executive.

The Muslim-majority state, which ranks after India and the United States among populous democracies, goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose the next President. The electorate is 170-million strong.

His two opponents are also seasoned players.The former President, Megawati Sukarnoputri, of the Democratic People’s Party of Struggle, traces her political credentials to her father, Sukarno, and to her own status as an opponent of authoritarianism during Suharto’s long rule after Sukarno.

For Wednesday’s poll, Ms. Megawati is projecting what some political observers have described as a populist agenda of economic nationalism. Her vice-presidential running mate, Prabowo Subianto, was a key military leader. This aspect is seen as an index of the continuing popularity of a military career for civilian politics.

The President, often known by his initials of SBY, is also a former military General, and his supporters have sometimes projected him as Indonesia’s Eisenhower. Mr. Yudhoyono has now campaigned on a platform of taming terrorism, containing corruption and ensuring economic growth with social justice. Indonesia has so far bucked recession.

However, his critics portray him as a pro-United States neo-liberal economic manager.

The other candidate in the field, Jusuf Kalla, broke ranks with the President while being his deputy and threw his hat in the ring. Opinion surveys have shown him gaining ground.

However, both he and Ms. Megawati have trailed Mr. Yudhoyono in most opinion polls.

During the campaign, Ms. Megawati and Mr. Kalla, whose running-mate too is a former military General, occasionally joined hands to voice common concerns. On one such issue, the incomplete registration of eligible voters, the Constitutional Court ruled that the unregistered could exercise franchise on the basis of their national identity cards.

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