Farouk Arnaz & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A pro-democracy think tank has expressed concerns over the increasing number of polling agencies releasing survey data on support for political parties and presidential candidates as national elections draw nearer, saying that they do more harm than good.

Usman Hamid, the founder of the Public Virtue Institute, said the surveys demonstrate a poor understanding of democracy because they focus on competition among elites.

"The surveys on the 2014 presidential election are too premature and irrelevant to the current state of democracy, which is stalling. We regret that most political surveys offer a shallow interpretation of democracy," said Usman, a former coordinator of the National Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Usman declined to challenge the credibility of surveyors but said he had concerns about polling agencies that adjust their survey methodology based on the presidential candidates they prefer. "It's just a matter of justifying the methodology," he said.

Syaiful Mujani Research and Consulting announced on Sunday that its poll found Megawati Sukarnoputri to be the most popular of eight national leaders.

Usman said the public should not be too focused on the popularity of the candidates. "The release could have been an effort to distract the public," Usman said of the latest data.

Andar Nubowo, the communications director of the Public Virtue Institute, said that political surveys could serve as a double-edged sword that could both create negative perceptions and boost the popularity of candidates. Andar criticized the polling done by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting because it was hurting public perceptions of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, and the founder of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), Prabowo Subianto.

Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst from Charta Politika, said that surveys are usually funded by supporters of a candidate.

He said he saw nothing wrong with a political party paying for a survey as long as there was transparency over the fee paid for the survey and the methodology used. Yunarto admitted that the Golkar Party had hired his company in the past to conduct several surveys.

Nico Harjanto, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that survey companies were entitled to publicize the results of their work. "I think it's just a matter of a lack of code of conduct to regulate specifically the norms for survey companies," Nico said.