Dean Yates, Garut – The dramatic rise of Indonesian presidential frontrunner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is all the more surprising when you look at his campaign headquarters in the West Java town of Garut.
A volunteer labours over an old typewriter in a tiny office. No funds have been sent to prepare for the presidential election campaign, which opens on Tuesday. For April's parliamentary poll, volunteers made do with 500,000 rupiah ($54) and 50 T-shirts emblazoned with Yudhoyono's picture.
In other towns in West Java, Indonesia's most populous province, offices of Yudhoyono's Democrat Party were not even open when a Reuters correspondent dropped by late last week.
But despite minimal funds and an infant political party, the retired general and former chief security minister has won converts across the emerald rice fields and towering volcanoes of Java island, Indonesia's political and economic heartland.
Home to more than half Indonesia's voters, Java was once a bedrock of support for incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Not any more.
From dozens of conversations during a trip through West Java it's clear many Indonesians have pinned their hopes for the July 5 election on a man some see as saintly by the nation's political standards – honest, scandal-free, calm, a former general with no blood on his hands, and a good Muslim.
"This election is a chance to stop our country from falling apart," said 19-year-old student Revi Purwanti Rusliyani, passing the time with her friends in Garut, a town of 120,000 people surrounded by mountains and mist. "We need someone who has the education and leadership qualities like SBY," she added, using Yudhoyono's nickname.
Opinion polls show Yudhoyono winning 40 percent of Indonesia's first direct presidential poll, way above his main rivals Megawati or former military chief Wiranto, nominee of Golkar, once the party of former autocrat Suharto. The two other candidates in the race also lag well behind Yudhoyono.
Remarkably, few Indonesians interviewed in West Java's rice fields, towns and fishing villages had a bad word to say about Yudhoyono, even if they would vote for someone else.
That, researchers say, means he could pick up their votes if the election goes to a runoff in September and their first choice does not survive the July ballot. A runoff between the top two is required if no candidate wins a majority in July.
Troubled country
Since Suharto stepped down in 1998 after 32 years of military-backed leadership, civilian rule over the world's most populous Muslim nation has been weak and ineffective.
The economy is not growing fast enough to absorb five million job entrants each year. Indonesia's notorious graft and unpredictable courts have eaten into investment.
Yudhoyono has pledged to clean up corruption and win back the foreign investment Indonesia needs. He served as Megawati's top security minister until he quit last March.
Foreign governments like Yudhoyono because he speaks their language in fighting terrorism, although diplomats and some analysts say he can be chronically indecisive at times.
"For those who like SBY here, he is seen as a good worker and clean," said Harun al Rasyid, chief of Sukaraja village.
With their vast machinery, Golkar and Megawati's party should be jostling for the presidency. They came first and second in the April parliamentary election, winning 23 percent and 20 percent of the seats, respectively. Yudhoyono's party won 10 percent of the seats. But the big two are finding that what counts now is a winning candidate.
For a dozen motorcycle taxi drivers, farmers and jobless youths waiting out heavy rain under a rickety bus shelter in the village of Hayawang, the big issues are jobs and security. Almost to a man they dismiss Megawati. They like Wiranto but say he is too close to Suharto. In a straw poll, Yudhoyono wins the popularity contest because of his clean image.
That sort of support is consistent across the country. "The popularity of SBY has reached down to the villages. It is spread evenly across all provinces," said Muhammad Qodari, research director of the Indonesia Survey Institute.
Other things might work in Yudhoyono's favour. Sony Mulyadi Supriadi, a reporter with the local newspaper Priangan in Tasikmalaya, said Megawati could count on the backing of her most fanatical supporters around the town. But he had noticed more pragmatism among Golkar supporters. "Many who chose Golkar [last April] will go for SBY. They just think he is better," Supriadi said.