Indonesian democracy focused on more stability

Yudhoyono, Indonesia's first democratically elected leader, has won praise for a U.S.-backed security crackdown on the Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiyah network, and it has been more than three years since a major attack.

Campaigns briefly touched on Islamic identity, but media attention focused on whose wife wears a headscarf — the president's and his running mate's do not, while some of his opponents' do — but stayed clear of sensitive faith issues.

More attention has been paid to how the candidates will maintain stability.

Facing total collapse just a decade ago, Indonesia is now Southeast Asia's largest and one of its healthiest economies. Reforms and tight monetary policy have produced steady growth now at around 4 percent. A peace deal ended decades of civil war in Aceh province.

But Indonesia has struggled to attract badly needed foreign investment, due to its weak legal system and concerns about corruption. The country where President Barack Obama spent four years as a schoolboy regularly tops the list of the most corrupt nations.

The Corruption Eradication Commission, seen as a key gauge of the president's success, has convicted scores of lawmakers and entrepreneurs, including the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son — a governor who received a four-and-a-half year prison term last month.

An immediate task for the next president, who will be inaugurated in October, will be determining the commission's future. The body has operated without its chief, Antasari Azhar, since he was detained on murder charges in May, and its mandate expires in December.

A proposal before the outgoing parliament, where the commission is widely disliked after convicting a dozen members of accepting bribes, will strip it of the independent prosecutorial powers that have made it effective.

With around 100 million Indonesians living on less than US$2 a day, capturing the vote of the poor masses has been a top priority.

Yudhoyono's approval rating doubled to 50 percent in February after his government spent US$2 billion on cash handouts for low-income families and reduced fuel prices, a move Dr. Marcus Mietzner of the Lowy Institute for Intentional Policy said in an analysis will likely propel him to victory.

Shortly after the measures, Yudhoyono's incumbent Democratic Party tripled its seats in parliament, a boost that should help him press ahead with reforms.

Over the past five years, Yudhoyono's coalition government has relied heavily on the support of conservative Islamic parties and faced accusations of caving into the demands of radicals. More than 150 Shariah, or Muslim-based, bylaws were passed in several districts and a new national anti-pornography bill bans “erotic” images, poems and dancing.

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