Ezra Sihite – A survey released on Sunday showed Golkar Party back on top of the popularity list, a position it lost following the fall of the Suharto regime. However, it hasn't rubbed off on the party's presidential candidate.
According to survey conducted by Political Weather Station, the public still doesn't really know Aburizal Bakrie, the party chairman and tycoon that has declared himself its presidential candidate for the 2014 elections.
The party's former chairman, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, now the chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross Organization (PMI), came out as the most popular presidential candidate from Golkar with 22.14 percent. Aburizal only got 16.35 percent, followed by Priyo Budi Santoso, Akbar Tanjung, Fadel Muhammad and Agung Laksono.
"Golkar being chosen [as the most popular party] does not automatically translate to the electability and popularity of the Golkar chairman and presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie," Political Weather Station research director Marseder Marbun said on Sunday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Golkar politician Zainal Bintang said that Aburizal, known also as Ical, has been touting outdated programs.
"Ical's move to conduct dialogues with market vendors has no significant benefits," Zainal said. "It's a redundant program and also done by candidates from other political parties. It's just a waste of time, budget and effort."
He said that Aburizal's unpopularity could be a problem in the upcoming election. "His position far below JK [Jusuf Kalla] could create a big problem for Golkar because Golkar has declared Ical [as its presidential candidate]," Zainal said, adding that Kalla remained popular because he was considered to have been a good vice president by the public.
Zainal said Ical should evaluate his campaign team's performance and should think twice before going further with his candidacy. "Ical should think again and should not force himself [to contest the 2014 election]," he said.
The survey questioned 1,070 respondents across Indonesia's 33 provinces between Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, 2012, with a reliability of 95 percent.