Wealth gap still plagues Indonesia ahead of presidential elections
Yudhoyono's vow to reduce poverty remains unfulfilled as he wraps up second and final term
Tedi Kumaedi earns about US$87 a month selling instant coffee from his rusty bicycle near Jakarta's stock exchange. At nearby TechnoBike, they have sold out of US$25,000 Lamborghini-branded bicycles.
Narrowing the gulf between workers like Kumaedi, who toils for 14 hours a day outside a luxury hotel operated by Ritz-Carlton, and TechnoBike's increasingly affluent customers will be among the biggest challenges facing the winner of Indonesia's presidential election in July.
The wealth gap in the world's fourth most populous country is widening, threatening President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's goal of reducing poverty before he steps down after a decade in power.
It is also restraining growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy, as consumption by the poorest half of the country stagnated last year, according to the World Bank.
Growing inequality has boosted the popularity of Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, whose Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle won the most votes in an April 9 parliamentary election and who leads opinion polls to succeed Yudhoyono.
"There is a sense of the big end of town enriching itself," said Hal Hill, a professor of Southeast Asian economies at Australian National University in Canberra.
"Jokowi seems a man of the people, and that's a powerful message," he said, referring to Widodo by his nickname.