bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Indonesian president has alienated the poor with rising prices, say analysts

Like most Balinese, Nyoman Wirya was a staunch supporter of Megawati Sukarnoputri's party in the 1999 legislative election, joining thousands on Bali's streets to celebrate victory with shouts of 'Long live Mega'.

Five years on, the 40-year-old cafe worker at Kuta  is joining calls for the Indonesian president's  political demise.

'Megawati has done nothing for the wong cilik [small people], nothing for reformasi [reforms].

'I have switched my support to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He has strong discipline, is not corrupt, and is more charismatic. He is a leader.'

Pollsters, who correctly predicted Ms Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle would lose top spot to the Golkar party in April's legislative elections, rate Mr Susilo, a retired general,  of the Democrat Party  as clear favourite heading into the July 5 presidential election.

Ms Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's founding president, is fighting for second place with former armed forces chief Wiranto.

Mr Susilo's spectacular rise in popularity is of particular embarrassment to Ms Megawati in Bali, where she had found strong support mainly because her grandmother was Balinese, analysts said.

'It's an indication of how much Megawati has alienated voters,' said Mochtar Prabotinggi, senior political scientist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Jakarta.

'She came to power as defender of the poor people, but she repeatedly betrayed that with rising prices and continued corruption, and by governing haphazardly, irresponsibly, without passion and without intellect.'

The respected International Foundation for Election Systems  said Ms Megawati's popularity among Bali's voters dropped from 54 per cent in late March to 12 per cent last month.

Over the same period, Mr Susilo's  popularity soared from 4 per cent to 53 per cent.

'Their positions reversed over these two months. Bali is only a small sample, but these differences are much greater than the margin of error,' said the foundation's Indonesia project manager, Alan Wall.

Muhammad Qodari, research director  for the Indonesian Survey Institute, said Bali's mostly Hindu population was  impressed by Mr Susilo's  moderate stance on Islam, down-to-earth style and the strong leadership that saw him play a key role as then security minister following the October 2002 bombing attacks on the island.

'People were impressed with the way he handled the crisis,' he said.

While Ms Megawati has improved macroeconomic stability, this has not been transferred to the pockets of the wong cilik.  Sudden promises to cut poverty rates by half and create 13 million new jobs if she wins a second term have come too late, analysts say.



Megawati losing her grip on Bali voter base