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Jakarta. Dissatisfied with the performance of regional officials, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday said he may require candidates to undergo an orientation program on governance.

He said the General Elections Commission (KPU) could conduct the orientation for those running for district head, mayor, governor and their deputies.

The candidates would be briefed about governance, development, law and budget management.

The sessions could run for a week or a month and could be covered by the state funds.

“This way, whoever is elected, they would at least have some knowledge on how to run a district, municipality and province,” Yudhoyono said.

The number of officials who lack a background in governance has been increasing, with many coming from the entertainment field.

Actors Rano Karno, Dicky Candra and Dede Yusuf have been elected as Tangerang deputy district head, Garuf deputy district head and West Java deputy governor, respectively. Critics said they won only because of their popularity .

Gamawan Fauzi, the home affairs minister, earlier said amendments to the regional election law should include requiring candidates to have leadership experience in organizations.

“The resources and populations of some provinces in Indonesia are bigger than certain countries,” Yudhoyono said.

“There are even districts with populations bigger than Singapore.

"Imagine if they are being handled by a government that is incapable of management, leadership, supervision; our future will not be bright.”

Yudhoyono said popular figures running for elected office needed to have the capacity to carry out their work.

“We should not give major leadership responsibility to those who are not ready,” he said.

“If more than 500 district heads and mayors succeed, cumulatively Indonesia could be successful. If 33 governors and their deputies are successful in building their regions, our nation will be extraordinary.”

But a KPU member, I Gusti Putu Artha, said the orientation program should instead be conducted after the elections.

“Also, it would be better for the government to conduct the training through the Home Affairs Ministry, instead of the KPU,” he said.

He added that the ministry was already involved in holding orientation sessions for district heads and their deputies after they had been elected.

But Putu said that if the president wanted the KPU to organize similar orientation sessions for candidates, it could coordinate with the ministry.