Leaked US diplomatic cables paint a negative picture of Megawati Sukarnoputri's presidency and predict the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) would do poorly in the 2009 elections due to its "dysfunctional leadership."

The cables also claim that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono went to "great lengths" but ultimately failed to restore his relationship with Megawati, who remains bitter that Yudhoyono ran against her in 2004.

The cables quote former PDI-P legislator Amris Hassan as saying there was a "growing sense of disillusionment within the PDI-P ranks over Megawati's stewardship of the party."

"Hassan bemoaned Megawati's inability to chart a coherent opposition strategy for PDI-P and said that he expected a growing number of high profile defections from the party unless changes were forthcoming," the cable from late 2006 said.

"Hassan told us that Megawati's obsequious inner circle contributed to her leadership struggles as she was rarely challenged or prompted to consider alternative viewpoints from her own."

The former legislator said party members were becoming more and more aware that the party was viewed as little more than a "Megawati cult of personality, and that most party members understood this would not translate into electoral success in 2009."

The source told the embassy that his decision to accept an ambassadorial posting to New Zealand would help "distance himself from the party's dysfunctional leadership."

The party gained just 14 percent of the vote in the 2009 legislative elections to finish in third place, well behind Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, which secured 20 percent of the vote. PDI-P secured almost 20 percent of the vote in the 2004 elections.

Another cable labels Megawati as the only serious threat to Yudhoyono in the 2009 presidential elections but said she had "stumbled in the opposition and failed to articulate a competing vision for the country."

"Having already beaten back one challenge to her authority in PDI-P, several of our contacts in the party report growing disenchantment with her policy of 'opposition for the sake of opposition,' and openly admit they believe she could never be re-elected as president," the cable reads.

"Though it is hard to imagine a PDI-P ticket without her at the top, Megawati would have to overcome lingering questions about her first presidency, and very low favorability numbers (28% in the most recent credible polling), to beat SBY in 2009."