Robert Go, Jakarta – If a recent Tempo Magazine poll is correct, Indonesians have little patience left for the manoeuvrings of Jakarta's political elite. The people crave concrete signs that economic and social conditions are improving.

"Indonesia's democracy is maturing," said some analysts who drew the positive view on the lack of violent demonstrations during the current session of the top legislature, the People's Consultative Assembly.

But Tempo's statistics, gathered from a survey of 1,301 people living in five major Indonesian cities (Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Medan and Makassar), show that the people are perhaps too occupied with practical living concerns to take to the streets and to express their dissatisfaction with the government's performance. The answers seem to also indicate that Indonesians generally feel their politicians strike deals for themselves.