This is Indonesia's year of voting frequently. That in itself is extraordinary. Since 1955 Indonesians have enjoyed only three genuinely competitive, democratic elections.

The so-called "festivals of democracy" which punctuated decades of authoritarian rule under the former president Soeharto tossed the odd free T-shirt and lunch pack the way of the masses. But not political choice. Such scant regard for the opinions of ordinary Indonesians was long dismissed with a simple, paternalistic label. The masses were "orang kecil" – little people, with as little power. Indonesia may have thrown off the yoke of Dutch colonialism in 1949, but home-grown authoritarianism quickly blunted any hopes that generations of ordinary Indonesians might have had of influencing those who controlled their daily lives.

This week, campaigning opened in the first round of Indonesia's first-ever direct presidential elections. At first glance, it seems the banner of democracy has been strung up over a familiar collection of faces. Indonesia's next president undoubtedly will be a member of the old political elite. But the rules of the political game have changed decisively. The three presidential front runners are two retired Soeharto-era generals and the lacklustre incumbent, President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Mrs Megawati did oppose Soeharto. But her father, Indonesia's founding president, Soekarno, had "guided" his country's infant democracy for his own political ends before being ousted in a Soeharto-led military uprising in the mid-1960s. Mrs Megawati was elected on the coat-tails of her father's populist legacy in 1999. In office, she has exhibited all the disdain of a political princess for the lot of the long-suffering poor. Too many of her officials have also taken up where Soeharto's cronies left off, with their hands in the public purse.

A rare press conference called by Mrs Megawati this week, then, is a telling and important sign of change. It was not the vague, pedestrian policies Mrs Megawati put on the table – promises on jobs, poverty alleviation, clean water, sewerage. It was the fact that the famously reticent Mrs Megawati felt compelled to bother with a policy launch, and the media, at all. The parliamentary elections in April might explain why. In these, Mrs Megawati's PDI-P lost more than 40 per cent of its support. For the first time in half a century, the Indonesian people had a chance to judge an elected government. In doing so, they produced Indonesia's first electoral backlash. Political power, and the delivery of public services, is now clearly accountable to popular opinion.

The potential for Indonesia's fledgling democracy to continue to be marred by corruption, mismanagement and factionalism remains high. But the political myth in Indonesia of a strongman at the centre of power, much like a Javanese king surrounded by a deferential populace, is breaking down. Australia should welcome this, even though it means Indonesia is becoming an increasingly unpredictable and complicated neighbour. The reformist retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is well ahead in the presidential opinion polls. But the lessons of the April polls will weigh heavily in the presidential race. The political competition for the "orang kecil" has just begun.