Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – The old faces of Indonesia's elite look set to dominate next year's presidential election but new blood is needed to end the poverty and corruption plaguing the country, outsider presidential hopefuls said on Thursday.
The long campaign for the 2009 vote is already under way and is shaping up as a contest between the incumbent ex-general, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and his predecessor Megawati Sukarnoputri.
While polls show both leaders dominating the race, Indonesians are fed up with unfulfilled promises 10 years after the 1998 overthrow of dictator Suharto, candidate Rizal Mallarangeng told a forum with foreign journalists.
"I respect these leaders, I respect my seniors, but it is just not healthy if in the last 10 years of the reformation period, we have the same choice again and again," he said.
Yudhoyono, who trounced Megawati in the 2004 election on a platform of tackling corruption and joblessness, has failed to improve the lives of Indonesians, Mallarangeng said. Indonesia's full-year growth for 2007 was 6.32 percent, the fastest rate in 11 years, but the country has made few dents in unemployment.
"If we don't provide better jobs for these people, for these young Indonesians 20 years from now, not only Indonesia as a society is endangered but also the democracy we have built over the last 10 years will be in danger," Mallarangeng said.
Another candidate, Rizal Ramli, likened Indonesia's leaders to "used cars" and said they had left the country lagging behind more dynamic Asian economies.
"I do believe Indonesia cannot use used cars any more, because in the region people are using Formula One cars," said Ramli, a former top economic minister.
Key candidates in the crowded field for next year's ballot also include current Vice President Jusuf Kalla, two senior military men from Suharto's regime, and the hereditary sultan of the ancient Javanese city of Yogyakarta.
Ramli and Mallarangeng are not backed by any major party and have little showing in opinion polls, although Mallarangeng has the support of Indonesia's richest man, multi-billionaire Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie.
An increasingly bitter campaign among members of the old guard could give new candidates a chance to rise through the ranks, Ramli said. Each of the top candidates "is going to have their own predator. They are going to eat alive every other competitor," he said.
Yudhoyono's credibility has been hit by the spectacular failure of two key scientific projects championed by the president and a top adviser. The much-touted "Supertoy" breed of rice failed to produce promised high yields, while an earlier project claiming to turn water into a sustainable supply of energy was found to be a hoax.
Main rival Megawati's poll numbers have suffered from a corruption scandal involving a lawmaker from her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Her support has also been dented by anger over a cheap natural gas deal her administration signed with China in 2002, which the government says would leave the country short-changed by tens of billions of dollars.