Jakarta – A recent national survey has shown if the national election was to be held this month, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) would beat the Golkar Party and the Democratic Party.
The survey said there were definite factors that had strengthened PDI-P's prospects for gaining a majority vote in the national election.
Results showed 30.5 percent of respondents trusted PDI-P as the most suitable party for people at the grassroots level. The survey showed Golkar in second place with 12.9 percent and the Democratic Party (PD) in third, with 4.8 percent.
The Indo Barometer survey also showed Indonesians believed PDI-P was the most reliable party because it continuously struggled for the public's interests, with 18.7 per cent of respondents preferring PDI-P, 15.4 percent Golkar and 8.8 percent PP. With regard to the public's trust in a party's ability to supervise the government, some 11.9 percent of survey respondents favored Golkar, while 11.6 percent favored PDI-P and only 5.3 percent liked PD.
Indo Barometer executive director Muhammad Qodari said, "The Democratic Party has secured third position in the survey because Indonesians tend to let admiration of an individual influence their preference for political parties".
"In this case, the Democratic Party was fortunate to have Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on their side," he said. "Yudhoyono's last position before he decided to compete in the 2004 presidential election was coordinating minister for political and security affairs."
Qodari said then the Democratic Party had received a 7.5 percent vote. "But now the president is personally bigger than he was in 2004," he said Tuesday.
The survey was conducted from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2007, across 33 provinces in Indonesia. The respondents consisted of 1,200 people who hold the right to vote, were more than 17 years of age, or who were already married when the survey was conducted.
The survey also indicated the Indonesian public remained dissatisfied with the performance of political parties and their unwillingness to fight for the public's interest. The survey also showed people believed political parties had failed to provide a political education for the public, including their own members.
Qodari said one reason was most political parties appeared in front of the public only during occasional events closely linked to elections or party anniversaries.
Ganjar Pranowo from PDI-P said he completely agreed with the results and the public was not satisfied with the country's political parties.
"The fact is, in Indonesia, there is not one party that has been sincerely established with any specific idealism," Ganjar said.
"Every party's objective is to gain power and authority. Thus, political parties only want to rule – they don't care about the people's aspirations. That's why this survey is very important, particularly to encourage political parties to take immediate action and before the public becomes more cynical," Ganjar said.
With regard to the grassroots trusting PDI-P as the most reliable party, Ganjar said this should be a warning for PDI-P to live up to that trust. Otherwise, he said this would become a "boomerang for the party". (uwi)