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Young people want Jokowi, Dahlan Iskan for president: Survey

Jakarta Globe - December 3, 2012

A survey by the Indonesian Youth Alliance (API) shows that among younger demographics, Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan are the most popular candidates for the 2014 presidential election.

The secretary general of API, Dendi Susianto, said the two candidates were popular because of the change they were seen as representing. "Young people really want changes," Dendi said, as quoted by antaranews.com.

Neither Jokowi nor Dahlan has expressed explicit interest in running for the nation's top job.

Among potential candidates affiliated with political parties in the survey, Jokowi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was most popular, gaining 37.4 percent of votes. The capital's governor was followed by Prabowo Subianto, founder of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) at 10.3 percent, and former Vice President Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party at 6.5 percent.

Meanwhile, among figures not affiliated with political parties, the most popular candidate was Dahlan with 27.8 percent, besting Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD and Djoko Suyanto, the nation's coordinating minister of political, legal and security affairs. Former Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani was at the bottom of the list, with only 1.3 percent of votes.

The majority of respondents said they were looking for presidential candidates who were serious about combating corruption.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 5-15 and involved 450 respondents aged 17 to 45. The respondents were selected at random from 10 major Indonesian cities including Medan, Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Pontianak, Makassar and Manado.

"Young people were selected [as respondents] because they are the biggest segment [of the population]," Dendi said.

Jokowi, elected governor in September, recently said he did not want to entertain the prospect of a presidential bid. "Being a governor has made me dizzy, let alone being president," he told Vivanews.com. "I only want to work, work and work."