Nivell Rayda & Camelia Pasandaran – There was little real discussion or argument on Thursday night as candidates for the presidential election spent most of the time agreeing with each other during the country's first open debate.

"I hope this debate will enable the candidates to better present their visions to the electorate," General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said in his opening remarks.

But most analysts present thought that the lack of clear differences between the candidates would only serve to make voters' jobs more difficult come July 8.

"They all appeared with the same performance," said Sri Budhi Eko Wardani, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia. "The candidates' failure to show different qualities will not really help voters in deciding, as they mostly said that they agreed with each other."

Another analyst, Andrinof Chaniago, said the debate, which tackled good governance, stood in stark contrast to the vigorous campaigning in the field, where candidates have been throwing barbs at each other.

Moderator Anies Baswedan, the head of Paramadina University, pointed out that former President Megawati Sukarnoputri's emphasis on people's welfare, Vice President Jusuf Kalla's "the faster, the better" mantra and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's anticorruption platform were all issues the other candidates were also promoting.

Yudhoyono, the analysts agreed, appeared to be the most confident and best prepared in presenting his vision, making effective use of his allotted time to stress important issues and what his policies would be.

"Corruption is the source of our problems, which hampers productivity and public service, and causes conflict of interest, friction and economic problems," Yudhoyono said. "There must be supervision and accountability in all government institutions."

Megawati focused on criticizing the current government, which spent much of its time reinforcing her people's welfare program. She also took a shot at the KPU over the voters list issue, straying far from the topic of the debate.

Kalla's vision for good governance is through building an effective government.

"All government institutions must have a target and performance indicator," he said. "A good government must be effective, transparent and accountable."

Kalla also stressed the importance of encouraging better performances from officials.

Megawati appeared unconcerned over the slow pace of deliberations on the Anti-Corruption Court bill, only saying that the House should enact the law before the end of their tenure in September. Kalla was stronger, saying the government must commit itself to passing the bill before the end of its term.

Commenting on the defense budget issue, Megawati said the government should substantially increase it. "It's not about how much it costs, but this is about our national security and nation's integrity," she said.

The candidates all agreed that the way to address past human rights issues was to look to the future, but to also learn from the mistakes of the past.