Anita Rachman, Jakarta – National leaders have taken the president to task for his perceived weak leadership and demanded the government work more closely with community groups to resolve a plethora of problems.

The call came at a discussion on Tuesday hosted by Muhammadiyah, the country's second-biggest Islamic organization, and involved more than 20 prominent national figures.

They included former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, and Sofyan Wanandi, the chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo).

The main grievances raised at the discussion, led by Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin, concerned poverty and the "criminalization of democracy" by those with money and power.

The speakers said the government's weak leadership in responding to pressing issues had resulted in the public losing faith in the government.

Kalla said he was particularly concerned about the growing gap between the rich and the poor, arguing that in Thailand, a similar situation had led to a loss of trust in the government, "which can become very dangerous."

Sofyan agreed that poverty was a pressing problem and said that, along with unemployment, it needed to be tackled urgently by the government.

He suggested the two problems could be solved if the country could draw in more foreign investment, but said that would first require political and legal stability. "Can we unite? Do we have a leader who is open to discussion? If we're not united, the investments will never get here," he said.

Soetrisno Bachir, a former chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), questioned the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"We don't need to force the president to step down, just pretend he doesn't exist," he said. "I'm not against the president. I just think it's time for organizations such as Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama [the country's biggest Islamic group] to step in to solve these problems."

But Marzuki, from the president's ruling Democratic Party, said the multitude of complaints leveled against the government highlighted how ungrateful Indonesians were as a nation. Despite there being many problems, Indonesians should be thankful for having made so much progress in terms of democracy, he said.

"We are an ungrateful nation," Marzuki said. "We should be more thankful for the way things are right now so that the future only gets better, not worse."

Marzuki said the sense of ungratefulness would only incite "Allah's wrath." "But if we're grateful, more blessings will be showered upon us," he said.

The House speaker also said the right way to resolve the many issues was through legislation, given that "Indonesia is a country based on the rule of law."

"If a problem stems from a law, then we should fix the law in question," he said. "The House is very open to this. Just stop calling for the president to step down."

However, Mahfud said Indonesia already had "a complete legal system," and all that was missing to tie it together was "a leader who can unite the nation."

He also argued that being grateful did not mean having to accept things as they were without any objections. "We should get mad at the things that aren't right," he said. "To be grateful is a dynamic state. To be patient means to be brave enough to fight back."

Mahfud added the nation had "run out of theories" on how to address the host of problems and challenges it faced. "We've had these kinds of discussions and angry rhetoric since way back, but we've never managed to change," he said.

In his closing speech at the discussion, Muhammadiyah's Din called for more debates involving various elements of society, to which he said the president and vice president should pay particular heed.