Presidential candidates Megawati Sukarnoputri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla participate in a televised presidential debate in Jakarta on Thursday night. (Photo: Romeo Gacad, AFP)
June 26 - After a listless first debate more than a week ago, presidential candidates on Thursday gave a much livelier performance during their second nationally televised public debate, with criticism of their rivals finally making its way into the discussion.
The debate, focusing on the eradication of poverty and unemployment, saw the participants more comfortable with the format as they exchanged political barb s.
“Tonight’s debate was much better,” said Andrinof Chaniago, political analyst of the University of Indonesia.
Hendri Saparini, an economics analyst with Econit, a privately owned think tank, said, “The major thing here is that now people can see the differences between the candidates.”
Analysts and observers, however, agreed that Vice President Jusuf Kalla and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono dominated the show, while the third candidate, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, contributed little to the discussion.
Kalla was credited by many for instigating a more robust debate .
“He was the star tonight, making the debate much more lively,” said Effendi Gazali, a communications expert from the University of Indonesia.
Kalla also initiated an attack on policy, commenting on a recent campaign statement by Yudhoyono, who had warned that local entrepreneurs might endanger the country with their vested intere sts.
“I regret that local investors are considered bad, because without their existence, who would create jobs in this republic?” the vice president asked.
Kalla, who is vying for the presidency with Gen. (ret.) Wiranto as his running mate, also took a shot at Yudhoyono’s vice presidential choice, former central bank Governor Boediono, saying that he had allowed bank interest rates to reach high levels and had failed to support the development of a 10,000-megawatt power generation project by initially refusing, as the nation’s top economics official, to issue the necessary guarantees.
Coming to the rescue, Yudhoyono said the decision was later reversed and that the guarantees had been agreed upon.
Prompting laughter and applause from the audience, Kalla teased Yudhoyono for using a popular jingle for an instant noodle product as his campaign tune, saying that it would only lead to an increase in wheat imports.
Yudhoyono parried, saying, “Perhaps the noodle you eat is made from pure wheat, because my noodle is a mixture of wheat, sago and cassava.”
Although observers agreed that no new content was revealed during the debate, the moderator, economist Aviliani, was praised for delivering probing questions.
“As for the substance of the responses, Yudhoyono and Kalla had better answers compared to the previous debate,” Andrinof said. “But there were no innovative answers that we hadn’t already heard.”
“In the question-and-answer section, Megawati seemed not to have progressed at all. She lives in the past and gave no better insights than in the previous debate,” he added.
However, Hendri said that Megawati was consistent in her intentions to reduce state debt and emphasizing the need to revise the Labor Law.
“Megawati and Kalla stressed the importance of revising the Labor Law, but Yudhoyono was against it. It shows that he supports market liberalization. He claimed past government successes but lacks vision on how to reduce poverty and the unemployment problem,” Hendri said.
The three presidential candidates will meet for their third and final debate next Thursday.
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