Nivell Rayda & Camelia Pasandaran – Despite attempts to spur more lively discussions and avoid a repeat of the snoozer that marked last week's first debate, the first vice presidential debate last night failed to differ very much.

After widespread criticism that the matchup between presidential candidates contained no real debate, instead showing candidates largely agreeing with each other, the General Elections Commission (KPU) attempted to spark more discussion by providing less time for each candidate to explain their visions on the topic of "building national identity," in the event aired from the studio of private television station SCTV in Senayan, South Jakarta.

They were also made to face each other across a half circle, and commercial breaks were also cut down to allow more continuity and more time for questions and answers.

"It was a bit better than the previous presidential candidate debate," said Sri Budhi Eko Wardani, a University of Indonesia political analyst, adding that it still smacked of a presentation.

Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) member Nur Hidayat Sardini agreed that the debate was "not so much different from the previous debate."

It saw none of the three candidates – Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, former Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono and Gen. (ret.) Wiranto – extol any new visions for the country.

The candidates' ideas of what national identity meant gave rise to more questions than answers, said Rocky Gerung, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia's School of Social Sciences.

While Prabowo and Wiranto both attempted to drum up support by playing the nationalist card, Boediono chose a more economy-oriented approach. "Our national identity is being taken away," Prabowo said, urging a more protectionist economy.

Wiranto began his presentation by singing the national anthem, before stressing the need for "a strong and responsive leadership" and "more dignity and national pride."

Boediono argued, "We have to build our economic infrastructure, spread our wealth to the people, develop our human resources and establish legal reform to eradicate corruption in our judicial system."

Commenting on the candidates, Sri Budhi said Wiranto "appears very good as an orator, but his concepts are not deep, only superficial." Prabowo put the economy as his main topic but elaborated little, while Boediono's good ideas lacked the backing of data, she added.

Nur believed the moderator, Komaruddin Hidayat, who heads the State Islamic University in Jakarta, "should have played a more active role in prompting candidates to give deeper and more concise answers."

Echoing the presidential debate, the candidates also had flurries of agreement, including that problems with welfare and unfair wealth distribution were behind religious and ethnic conflicts that have plagued the nation.

Nur said the way the KPU structured the debate – to restrict arguments that it claimed ran contrary to Indonesian culture – resulted in Tuesday's dull display. "It is baseless to say that arguing is not our culture," he said. "Arguing is different from attacking."

The next debate between presidential candidates is scheduled for Thursday.