Jakarta – Despite sinister political maneuvers and other efforts to discredit President Abdurrahman Wahid, the one thing in his favor is that there's no one good enough to replace him. That's the result of a new survey which asked respondents who should replace Wahid if he resigns or is ousted before completing his five-year term in office.
The survey was conducted over June 7-27 by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES), in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Development and Democracy (CESDA). More than 1,240 people were polled in five major cities: Jakarta, Surabaya (East Java), Medan (North Sumatra), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan).
The survey revealed that regardless of the criticism heaped on Wahid because of his controversial and often contradictory statements, most people still think he's the best person to lead Indonesia toward peace, prosperity and democracy. "When the survey was conducted, the people residing in the five cities said they couldn't imagine the possibility of the government staging a takeover or finding another figure to replace President Wahid," said LP3ES Director Imam Achmad.
He was speaking to reporters in Jakarta yesterday at a conference which was also attended by CESDA Chairman Naning and LP3ES chief researcher Muhammad Husain. Imam said 89% of respondents expressed confusion and uncertainty when asked who could possibly replace Wahid if he is ousted or resigns. He said this indicates that most people would strongly oppose any efforts by the People's Consultative Assembly [MPR] to impeach or topple Wahid when the nation's top legislative assembly convenes next month.
"That's why almost half [48%] of the respondents from the five major cities rejected the proposal to change MPR annual session into a special assembly, which has been a topic of public debate recently." Some critics have said that because of Wahid's shortcomings and failure to stop unrest, he should be replaced at a special session of the MPR.
Imam said 65% of the respondents said Wahid's government has provided more political freedom than the administration of former president B.J. Habibie. He said 55% of the respondents felt that legislators have not performed well, because they have failed to heed the people's aspirations and have not monitored the government. The most alarming result of the survey was that 74% of those polled said law enforcement agencies, the military and police cannot protect the public from acts of violence.