M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Analysts criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 2007 State of the Union speech for delving too much into macroeconomic details and overlooking some of the country's most immediate problems, such as avian influenza and the raging sectarian conflict in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

Political communication expert Effendi Ghazali of the University of Indonesia and political analyst Indra J. Piliang of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Yudhoyono addressed the country's issues only as statistical matters and failed to grasp substantive problems at hand.

"There was no mention of avian influenza and concrete strategies that the government will take to deal with the disease," Effendi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Effendi also pointed out that, other than the use of a teleprompter, there was not much novel about Yudhoyono's speech. "What he presented was like a compilation of data collected from individual ministries, which he brought into the spotlight once again," he said.

Breaking with the tradition of presenting the State of the Union speech at the end of the year, Yudhoyono on Wednesday made the speech at the start of the year, when he could more confidently present data on his administration's achievements from the previous year.

Yudhoyono talked at length about the government's efforts over the past two years to lift people out of poverty. The President pledged that in 2007, his administration would spend trillions on poverty eradication programs as well as infrastructure.

Indra said that, judging from the media's reception of the speech, Yudhoyono had apparently been unsuccessful at persuading people to recognize his successes.

"It is not whether the speech is made at the end or start of the year, but what is the substance of it, whether or not the President has been successful in his programs," Indra told the Post.

He also said a lengthy delay in delivering the speech had sapped people's interest. The President was expected to deliver the State of the Union speech in early January.

Like Effendi, Indra questioned the emphasis on macroeconomic details, saying they would be very difficult for the general public to swallow. "I began to question whom the President was addressing: journalists, experts, legislators of the House of Representatives or the general public?," he said.

Effendi added that the president paid too much attention in the speech to people's criticism of him. "If he is confident about his achievements, why worry so much?" Effendi asked.