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Indonesians Prefer Suharto to Yudhoyono: Poll
Arientha Primanita | May 16, 2011

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subrotto
12:18pm May 18, 2011

"If I have to choose between a douche and a turd, I just don't see the point." Stan, South Park

DrDez
10:57am May 18, 2011

Mike

I agree SBY plays the middle of the road - or fence sitting but nowhere in my heart can I find any room to think of Surharto as nothing more than a monster

dmaynel
10:48am May 18, 2011

Regardless of what the right or wrongs that Soeharto did, he provided one thing that other presidents failed to do: leadership. The willingness to take charge and bear responsibility when it is required to ensure the public that everything is all good. SBY kinda failed to do that, Megawati, Habibie and Gus Dur (good a president he may be) were a bit of a joke when it came to that, and I wasn't around for the Soekarno era.

Mike.Jkt
7:43am May 18, 2011

Suharto was a good president up until the time he allowed KKN to run wild. He was more charming that SBY and he played the "middle of the road" politics by now allowing radicals on either side to run wild...

Valkyrie
6:01pm May 17, 2011

Guys, what I am seeing is that we ALL agree that Soeharto was a "naughty boy."

As I've mentioned, SBY made it easy for many of us to make comparisons. It's like what DrDez said, a result of frustrations felt by many of us.

No one will believe that "big daddy" was a good person. I's just that our current "little daddy" is a spoilt brat."

Chill up and have the rest of the week in preparedness for the BIG SHAKE.

The common refrain of “things were better under Suharto” has been given credence in a new survey that shows the former strongman’s rule is widely preferred to the current civilian administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The results of the poll, released on Sunday by Indo Barometer, showed that 40.9 percent of the 1,200 people surveyed believed that conditions were better under Suharto’s New Order regime, while only 22.8 percent believed otherwise.

Muhammad Qodari, executive director of the polling firm, said the preference was more marked among urban residents than rural ones, with 47.7 of city dwellers holding the New Order in high regard compared with 35.7 percent people in the countryside.

Most respondents also believed that politics, the economy, security and social welfare were better during Suharto’s time, but conceded that the legal sector had improved since his downfall in 1998.

In all, 55.5 percent of respondents, polled between April 25 and May 4, were dissatisfied with the reform era.

“It’s ironic to see that the regime that people wanted changed is now considered to have been better,” Qodari said at a discussion of the poll results.

“It’s also a blow to everyone who thought that the onset of reform would lead to sweeping improvements.”

The poll also showed Suharto was the most popular president, with 36.5 percent of respondents putting him on top. Yudhoyono came second, with 20.9 percent, followed by founding father Sukarno at 9.8 percent.

Ray Rangkuti, director of the Indonesian Civic Network (LIMA), said the results of the survey should not be seen as a desire to bring back authoritarian rule.

“The respondents don’t necessarily admire Suharto,” he said. “This is just criticism of the pace of reforms being conducted by the current batch of politicians and government officials.”

He added the House of Representatives saw the biggest transformation of the reform era, hence its lag in heeding criticism on a range of issues, which has served to undermine perceptions about improvements after Suharto’s rule.

Ray said it was important for all stakeholders to return to the spirit of reform, and urged House legislators and government officials to improve their act.

“Don’t flaunt your wealth, and follow the people’s words,” he said. “The House has showcased only its vanity and power, while the executive branch has dealt in lies and broken promises with no real [achievements].”

He added that bureaucratic reform was “the most important element of the reform era.”