Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Public polls are a much-sought device in Indonesian politics these days.

Several polling groups have emerged since last year and, for the first time, their surveys of public expectations are being taken seriously by contenders for the presidency.

The groups are made up moSuara Timur Lorosaey of non-profit institutions. Some have begun to commercialise their services to cater to political parties or figures.

Their rise in popularity is in line with the country's political climate. Direct legislative elections were completed recently and polling for the presidency is due in July.

"This is not an exclusively Indonesian phenomena," said Mr Muhammad Husain, head of the research division at the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES). "In other countries undergoing the democratisation process like us, polling groups begin to mushroom around election time."

Other analysts noted that there was greater political freedom in Indonesia since the fall of the authoritarian Suharto regime in 1998. "Under an authoritarian political system, it is pointless to do a public poll. The public has no control over who gets elected," said Mr Qodari, director of research at the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI).

Tight government control also made it tough in the past for the authorities to approve surveys with "sensitive" questionnaires, he said.

LSI is one of the more prominent polling groups. Established last July, it is made up of young scholars specialising in political behaviour. Last year, it secured funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency to carry out regular surveys on politics and public policies.

The LP3ES has been around since 1971, doing studies and publishing books on social and economic issues. In 1993, it began to carry out public opinion surveys, focusing then on less sensitive issues such as the environment and economic liberalisation. This year, it was hailed for its successful and highly accurate 'quick count' of the April 5 legislative elections.

By placing 4,000 staff to observe vote counts and interview voters in 2,000 ballot stations, the institute came up with an estimate of the polling results in one day.

It took the General Elections Committee a month to finish the vote count. The estimate by the institute boosted confidence and trust in public polls.

Just a year ago, President Megawati Sukarnoputri's party dissolved its research and development division. The party was angry about the studies by the division showing that the party's popularity was waning because of corruption and the President's sluggish performance.

The Straits Times understands that the party is now one of two parties using the LSI's service to do surveys for internal use on public approval ratings.

Other polling groups include the non-governmental organisation, the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), and the Centre for Political Studies-Sugeng Sarjadi Syndicated.

The media has also jumped on the bandwagon with their own polls, albeit with less scientific methodology.

Television stations invite viewers to pick the political parties or presidential candidates of their choice, through short messaging services.

For commercial reasons, some of the stations impose higher rates for each SMS in the pollings. The print media, including Kompas, do regular telephone polling on ground sentiment.

Internet news sites such as Detik.com also conduct surveys on their sites.