Aleksius Jemadu – When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told senior officials from the military and police last week that he had not received a pay raise in seven years, the statement was revealing in a number of ways.

From a cultural perspective, the president was using his Javanese manner to tell his audience, with an air of indifference, that he actually deserved more money. In Javanese culture, one refrains from being too blunt about such deep desires.

Politically, in the midst of public disappointment and anger over the handling of the Gayus Tambunan tax scandal, the president also was making a disclaimer that with his stagnant salary he should not be associated with those rich businesspeople who evade their taxes.

In this, he was seeking to deflect the idea that people should blame him for a crime that he had nothing to do with. The president's statement was also taken to mean that even with his relatively low salary, he was still committed to his job.

Thus, he was responding to critics who have questioned his drive in carrying out his popular mandate.

A few days before the president's comment, religious leaders went to the State Palace to ask the president to get serious about eradicating corruption and protecting the rights of minorities.

Their intention was to draw Yudhoyono's attention to the irresponsibility of being indecisive or indifferent when our political institutions care only about the interests of their masters.

It is deplorable that instead of responding to this very legitimate demand by the religious leaders, the president instead seemed to beg for some compassion from the public for his personal "ordeals."

It is evident that the public and the president have different priorities. While the public wants the president to be more determined in leading the effort to eradicate corruption – especially with regard to the tax scandal – the president apparently seems to care more about his own skin.

Although it is not fair to put all the blame on the president, he is still expected to do something to put an end to the seemingly endless controversy concerning Gayus. In the eyes of the public, the president, as the top executive, ought to be aware of the reasons why this case has so frustrated and angered people.

First, no one has stepped up from the law-enforcement community who is clean enough or courageous enough to prosecute Gayus properly.

Second, even our two most influential television news stations, TVOne and Metro TV, which have been very enthusiastic in endorsing public discussion about the Gayus scandal, cannot claim to be impartial providers of information.

We cannot expect TVOne to be too critical or cynical about the position of its owner, Aburizal Bakrie, some of whose other companies are allegedly implicated in the case. At the same time, Metro TV has seemed very critical, even overly so, of any weakness of Yudhoyono's.

Third, being aware of the significant influence of the electronic media, major political parties are competing to use the media to protect the good image of their organizations and leaders.

This is also part of the lead-up to the 2014 presidential election. Unfortunately, there is little the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) can do to ensure the integrity and objectivity of the television stations in presenting political news.

Yudhoyono's ambiguous statement about his salary is a manifestation of his complex personality, which may affect the way he governs the country for the rest of his second term.

As chief executive, he should never be heard to utter words of discouragement because that could be interpreted as a sign of weak leadership.

Instead of self-pity, it would have been more appropriate for the president to tell his audience that public officials should work even harder to meet people's rising expectations.

If Yudhoyono wants to sustain the political preponderance of his Democratic Party beyond 2014, he has to bear in mind that coming through on the promises of the reform era remains absolutely essential.

It is the Democratic Party that will pay the price in the 2014 elections if he fails to show statesmanship, especially in leading the government bureaucracy toward a more professional and accountable performance.

[Aleksius Jemadu is a professor of international politics at the Department of International Relations at Pelita Harapan University.]