Alex Noerdin likely to win South Sumatra election

By Khairul Saleh
Source : The Jakarta Post

Golkar Party-nominated South Sumatra gubernatorial candidate Alex Noerdin and his running mate Eddy Yusuf, popularly known as ALDY, look likely to win the first ever direct gubernatorial election in the province.

Noted survey institutes the Indonesian Survey Circle and Public Issue Network (LSI-JIP) and the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) conducted quick count polls immediately after the election on Thursday, revealing ALDY had a slight lead over rivals Syahrial Oesman and Helmy Yahya, known as SOHE.

The LSI-JIP and the LSI said ALDY won the election with 51.22 percent and 51.20 percent of votes respectively, with SOHE taking in 48.78 percent and 48.80 percent of votes respectively.

"It's a very tight race. This never happened in earlier counts," Setia Dharma of the LSI-JIP said, adding voter turnout was 73.85 percent.

More than 5 million eligible voters cast their ballots at 14,500 polling stations in 3,000 subdistricts across the province.

The LSI-JIP conducted its survey in 400 polling stations in 15 regencies and municipalities, while the LSI carried out its survey in 500 polling stations.

Setia said SOHE's narrow defeat was probably due to the candidates's absence in a second round of public debates held before the election.

A widely circulated photo showing Syahrial, the province's incumbent governor, gambling in the Genting Highlands resort in Malaysia, was also believed to have affected SOHE's chances at the ballot box, Setia added.

The LSI-JIP survey showed ALDY winning in several regencies, including Musi Banyuasin (where Alex served as regent), Banyuasin, Empat Lawang, Lahat, Pagaralam, Muaraenim and Prabumulih.

SOHE was victorious in the regencies of Lubuklinggau, Musi Rawas, Ogan Ilir, Ogan Komering Ilir, Ogan Komering Ulu, Ogan Komering Ulu Timur, Ogan Komering Ulu Selatan and Palembang.

However, the Policy and Strategic Development Research Center (Puskaptis), an early SOHE campaign adviser, said its quick count showed SOHE leading by 51.11 percent.

Using the same multistage random sampling and a margin of error of between 1 and 2 percent, the true winner of the election will likely be decided in a manual count, which would be conducted the South Sumatra General Election Commission (KPUD). The commission will announce the winner on September 14.

If ALDY wins the election, it would be the Golkar Party's first gubernatorial election victory, following defeats for the party's candidates in West Java, Central Java, East Java, Lampung, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi and Bali.

ALDY, also backed by the National Mandate Party and the Democratic Party, promised free education and healthcare programs during their campaign.

"Thank you to the people who supported us. I will fulfill all my promises," Alex said in response to the quick count results.

Hopefuls fail to push environment

By Rizal Harahap
Source : The Jakarta Post

Three Riau governor and vice-governor candidate pairs failed to address threats to the region's environment, including deforestation, when they outlined their strategies during a plenary session of the province's legislative council on Friday.

Governor candidate Chaidir and running mate Suryadi Chusaini, who were nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, promised to allocate 60 percent of the province's budget for poverty alleviation, education, health care and infrastructure development.

"This province is rich in natural resources, but still has a high poverty number. It means the development approach in the province was wrong and should be changed," said Chaidir, who is also the legislative council chairman.

He criticized the previous governor for touting the province's 8-percent economic growth rate despite rising poverty and unemployment figures.

Golkar Party-nominated governor candidate Rusli Zainal and running mate Bambang Mit said they would concentrate on developing infrastructure in villages and isolated areas.

"We will improve the quality of human resources in villages and isolated areas. We will free them from the poverty trap," said Rusli, who is also the incumbent governor and chairman of the province's Golkar Party chapter.

However, Rusli said his administration had reduced the rate of poverty in the province to 10 percent in 2007 from 14 percent in 2004.

The unemployment rate also decreased to 9.28 percent from 13.9 percent in the same period, he said.

Governor candidate Thamsir Rachman and running mate Taufan Andoso Yakin, who were nominated by the Democratic Party, also pledged to develop villages and isolated areas.

"We will allocate 50 percent of the budget for development in villages and isolated areas," said Thamsir, a former regent of Indragiri Hulu regency.

Executive director of the Riau chapter of the Indonesian Forum for Environment Johny Setiawan Mundung said the governor candidates had avoided crucial issues, including illegal logging, deforestation and smoke pollution.

"They were not sensitive to the strategic issues which have been monitored by people across the world," Mundung told The Jakarta Post.

He said environmentalists had long doubted that the candidates were committed to conserving the environment.

"If we look at their track records, two of the governor candidates were involved in damaging the forest," he said without mentioning the names of the candidates.

He said the candidates had promoted investment activities that had resulted in damaged forests in their respective regencies.

Mundung called on the public to abstain from voting in the election, citing that none of the candidates could be depended on to protect or rehabilitate the environment.