Jakarta – The leading contender in next month's presidential election warned Wednesday that supporters of rival politicians may "burn down cities" if there is no clear winner in the polls and the race goes into a run-off.
However, in an interview with The Associated Press, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono predicted he would win more than 50 percent of the votes in the July 5 election, making a second round of voting in September unnecessary.
The retired army general said that on gaining office he would step up the fight against terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim nation, and normalize military relations between Jakarta and Washington.
An opinion poll released Wednesday by the Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems showed support for Yudhoyono at 45 percent, far ahead of his nearest rival, Gen. Wiranto, who received 11.4 percent. Incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri came in third at 11 percent.
Yudhoyono said that a second round of voting between the two top finishers would be like "a boxing match, someone must fall."
"Maybe the contestants will be OK with that, but their followers may fight, be angry and burn down cities," he said at Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport before boarding a chartered jet to hit the campaign trail. "Maybe it will be much better if this is won in one round," he said.
Parliamentary polls in April passed off peacefully, and campaigning for the July election _ the first in which Indonesia's 210 million people will chose their leader directly _ has been without incident.
The July poll is seen as a milestone in the country's transition to democracy after the fall of former dictator Suharto in 1998.
Previously, lawmakers acting as an electoral college chose the head of state.
Yudhoyono has seen his popularity shoot up after he resigned as security minister in March to run for the presidency. Perceived as forceful and fair, the 54-year-old has been largely unaffected by his former association with the country's brutal military dictatorship.
Meanwhile, Megawati's support has dropped sharply due to her failure to jump-start Indonesia's moribund economy or crack down on rampant corruption during her three years at the helm.
Yudhoyono is viewed favorably in Washington because he has been one of the Indonesian government's most vocal supporters of the war on terrorism, and has led Indonesia's fight against its own militants.
"Indonesia is trying hard to fight terrorism," he said. "I will improve law enforcement and skills of the police to fight terrorism ... if I am elected.."
Yudhoyono, who attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1990, said that normalizing currently stalled military ties with Washington was "an important agenda."
Washington cut off military links with Jakarta in 1999 after Indonesian soldiers went on a bloody rampage during East Timor's vote for independence the same year.
"We have to review the existing military cooperation," he said. "It is not necessary to revive all past [forms of cooperation], but new programs could be developed in the future ... such as training Indonesian soldiers in US military schools," he said.