Jakarta – Although presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri earned credit and some sympathy for her willingness to confront prominent businesspeople in a high-level economic dialogue, her remarks seemed less substantive and unimpressive compared to those of her rivals.

While trying hard to appear confident, Megawati's replies to most of the questions raised by her high-powered audience appeared to lack substance, weight and detail.

"The questions are so difficult, luckily I was a president before," said Megawati, who during her presidential term regularly took a nap and watched Indonesian soap operas in the evening, which maybe showed up her popular touch.

During the 2004 presidential campaign Megawati tried to avoid open or television debates, and was the last candidate appearing in this dialogue held by the influential Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

Her rivals, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attended the dialogue sessions on Monday and Wednesday, respectively.

During the dialogue, Megawati's most controversial statement may have been when she said past mining contracts had been bad for the nation, but she had not tried to revise them over concern at being labelled "too fussy".

"It turns out that we have weaknesses in the contracts because we are a nation with [high-standards] of decency. I'm sorry for having given out licenses, but [then] not questioning them. If I did, they [the public) might label me [on this point] as being too fussy," she said.

However, she pledged that if she was elected as president she would overhaul such contracts.

Despite her lack of background in economic policy, Megawati's 2001-2004 presidency succeeded in stabilizing the post-crisis economy by astutely appointing the right man for the job. Boediono was her finance minister (and is now Yudhoyono's vice presidential hopeful).

But, her economic mistakes included the flawed sale of state assets, and energy deals with third countries leading to heavy state losses.

Megawati told the business leaders that she had been unable to avoid selling such state assets given prior commitments by her predecessor which could have resulted in legal actions for breaches of contract.

"I'm not denying it (the state asset sales). This is a problematic issue [arising from] past governments that I have to settle," she said.

The eldest daughter of the country's first President Soekarno said if elected she would put most of her effort into supporting populist economic policies which she thought were needed to help the people, although she was not quite sure, at this stage, of the details.

Afterwards, Megawati's running mate Prabowo Subianto tried to help clarify this point. Prabowo, who would take overall control of economic affairs if the pair is elected, remained upbeat that 10 percent economic growth was possible.

"The target is irrational for the current situation," said Kadin member Erwin Aksa, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi). "What I can say from the overall dialogue, [is that] Kalla has presented more practical ideas, while Yudhoyono seems to be more systematic in elaborating the issues. As for Megawati, she only prone to present her ideas to help less fortunate people," Erwin said. (naf)