The bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta has elevated terrorism, as an election issue, from a shade above nowhere to a point just visible on Indonesia's political horizon.

But the hopes and priorities of Indonesian voters, as they head to the polls on Monday, will be vastly different from those held by anxious regional neighbours.

More than 150 million Indonesians will turn out to directly choose their president for the first time – less than two weeks after the deadly attack targeting the embassy.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the Indonesia's charismatic founding president Sukarno, is vying for a second five-year term against retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, her former chief security minister. And while Indonesia watchers are hoping whoever wins will hunt down the terrorists behind the embassy attack, and ignore opposition by hardline Islamic voters to outlawing Jemaah Islamiah (JI), Indonesians will have their thoughts turned closer to home.

In a nation where most live in rural villages and eke out a living on around $2 a day, voters in the small communities known as kampungs are looking for a leader to lift them out of their economic misery.

That means restoring the high growth rates which tumbled with the fall of the 32-year Suharto dictatorship, making a dent in the vast army of 40 million unemployed and making a serious effort to fight the widespread corruption which bleeds the economy at every level.

That is not to say Indonesians will not be thinking about the country's Islamic terrorist problem, which in truth dates back to colonial times in various guises.

Reminders will be everywhere, in the form of around 120,000 police and the same number of troops on standby at ballot stations at high-risk targets such as embassies and shopping malls.

The embassy blast, which killed nine, has definitely elevated the issue – although perhaps not to the extent that neighbours such as Australia might have hoped for.

In the wake of the attack, both Megawati and SBY, as he is popularly known, were forced to tackle security during the sedate question-and-answer panel session which passes for a election debate in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Both promised more coordination, resources and international cooperation in an area thought by most to be the telegenic and commanding Susilo's strong point, given his background.

"He is of course considered stronger because he comes from the army," respected political analyst Daniel Sparingga of Airlangga University said.

But economic concerns are behind Megawati's woeful standing in polls, which if, even close, indicate the self-described former housewife is on course for a crushing loss.

One of the most reliable surveys by the Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems showed 61 per cent of people were backing Susilo in the runoff, against only 29 per cent for Megawati.

The former Suharto-era opposition leader whose Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle came to power pledging to fight for the little people is now seen as part of the problem.

Along with her Machiavellian millionaire husband, she now has the backing of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese tycoons, who control business in the nation of 215 million, and is firmly part of Indonesia's elite.

So too is Susilo, the US educated business graduate who has promised to fight corruption and bring on a "second wave" of long-stalled reforms.

It is a sign of the desperation ordinary Indonesians have for change that their best hope for something better is another former general and pro-nationalist.

Many analysts fear an SBY victory will just ensure Indonesia continues to muddle along without any real answers to its myriad economic and security woes.

"To many people it is two members of the elite vying with one another," Sparingga said. "Many people don't see an answer."

Neither do many of Indonesia's neighbours after the country's third terrorist attack in two years, despite a massive year-long manhunt for the bomb masterminds. Like ordinary Indonesians, they too will be hoping for the best from the ballot.