Jakarta – With 3,000 candidates vying for just 164 positions at the Indonesian Ministry of Trade, answering as many of the questions on the recruitment test correctly was always going to be of vital importance.

Imagine the surprise of many of the applicants, therefore, when they were confronted with the following multiple-choice question in the knowledge segment of the entry examination: "Which one of the song titles below is included in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's third album?"

Anita, one of the candidates who sat the mass examination at Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday, told news portal Okezone that the question was the most difficult to answer.

"I got a headache choosing the answer," she said, adding that she knew Yudhoyono had released several albums but that she never expected such a question to appear in the exam. "Two of my friends who also took the test this morning didn't know the song title either," she said.

Trade Ministry spokesman Robert James Bintaryo told the Jakarta Globe that he knew nothing of the question because the highly confidential test material was composed by a special team.

"Now my question is," Robert asked, "what is wrong if a general knowledge question is about Pak SBY's song? It's part of the general knowledge questions, there were 30 or 40 questions in that section and the song title was only one question." He added: "I can assure you, there are no hidden agenda behind the question."

Presidential spokesman Heru Lelono said Yudhoyono knew nothing about the question.

"As for the question itself, I see nothing wrong with it but there are many other, better, alternative questions for civil officer's general knowledge tests," Heru said. "Is it really important to ask civil officer candidates about the song?"

The results of the test will be announced on Oct. 19, followed by psychology tests and interviews.