Several presidential hopefuls mentioned in recent political surveys have poor track records in human rights and business. Therefore, their credibility to lead the nation is in question.
Analysts say this nation needs independent and reliable presidential aspirants who have the integrity to lead the country to a better future.
“None of the familiar figures mentioned in our surveys have integrity, which is the most important quality of a leader,” the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) executive director Saiful Mujani said in a discussion at the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) on Friday.
“We conducted the surveys to learn about the public’s preference on who will be the next president. We expect new presidential aspirants, otherwise there will be no future for Indonesia.”
LSI’s recent survey shows Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto, former vice president from the Golkar Party Jusuf Kalla, and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie as the most popular presidential candidates.
A series of previous surveys has forecast that the presidential election will likely see a head-to-head between general-turned-businessman Prabowo and business tycoon Bakrie, and not Megawati.
The Gerindra Party and the Golkar Party have announced both Prabowo and Bakrie as their respective hopefuls.
Saiful explained that the public’s limited knowledge of the presidential hopefuls might have influenced their choice in the survey, and therefore encouraged responsible groups, including the media, to publicize the track records of the presidential aspirants ahead of the 2014 elections.
“We must provide every detail of each hopeful to inform the public which candidate has been involved in human rights violations, suspect businesses, environmental destruction, etc.,” he said.
Sharing a similar view, Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) coordinator Andrie S Wijaya said the country needed a leader with no affiliations to businesses deemed by environmentalists to have been involved in environmental damage.
“It’s no longer a secret that the mining industry and politics support each other. The mining industry has become one of the sources of funds for politics in the country. We’ve seen some hopefuls who have been involved in either environmentally destructive projects or suspect businesses that have played a role in environmental damage, for example in mining,” Andrie said, citing a 2004 policy to allow 13 mining companies to operate in protected areas as an example.
In 2004, during Megawati’s presidency, the government changed the designation of 927,648 hectares of protected forest to allow 13 mining companies, including PT Sorikmas Mining in North Sumatra and PT Freeport in Papua, to operate in what had been protected areas.
“Alas, the situation regarding the mining industry hasn’t changed much until now. Things are even worse as more companies have received mining operating permits through dubious processes,” he said.
Jatam recorded that around 8,000 mining companies were operating in the country, while the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry had issued only around 5,374 licenses up to last year.
“We also need a leader who is independent enough to dare to resolve environmental destruction cases involving politicians,” Andrie added, citing the Lapindo mudflow as an example.