Indonesians appear to have used their first direct vote for president to remove the incumbent -- a defining moment in the country's transition to democracy that will force future leaders to listen the demands of the people, analysts predicted yesterday.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was supported by a large swathe of the political elite, was almost certain to be beaten in Monday's elections by former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to polls and official counts.
The significance of the election lies not so much in Megawati's replacement -- who critics note has few reform credentials -- but the fact that the electorate used its newfound power to boot out an increasingly unpopular leader, observers said yesterday.
"The phrase `the sovereignty of the people' used to only exist on paper in Indonesia," said Thamrin Amal Tomagola, a political observer from the University of Indonesia. "From now on, leaders will have to reckon with the people."
Monday's vote was a key step in Indonesia's transition to democracy following the downfall in 1998 of ex-dictator Suharto amid nationwide riots after 32-years of despotic rule.
"The fact that this was ... peaceful and transparent is amazing progress for Indonesia," said Greg Barton from Australia's Deakin University. "The people voted for change, which they were not going to get from Megawati."
During the Suharto years and in elections in 1999, lawmakers voting as an electoral college choose the president. Direct elections have been a key demand of the country's reform movement.
Megawati's party won the most votes in the 1999 elections, but lawmakers chose moderate Islamic cleric Abdurrahman Wahid as president and installed her as his deputy. Megawati, the daughter of the country's founding father Sukarno, got the presidency in 2001 after parliament impeached Wahid for incompetence.
But Megawati's was quickly perceived as uncaring and as having abandoned her reform agenda. The incumbent saw her popularity with millions of impoverished Indonesians who formed the core of her voter base plummet during the past three years.
In a widely criticized attempt to curry support for her re-election bid, she even formed a "National Coalition" with the Golkar party, the corrupt former political vehicle of Suharto, and five other smaller parties.
The move seemingly backfired, with many of her supporters convinced she had abandoned any pretense at reform.
"Genuine accountability is new for Indonesia," said Douglas Ramage, the head of the Asia Foundation in Indonesia. Megawati was "basically punished for not delivering enough on reform."
Yudhoyono declined to make deals with political parties ahead of the vote, claiming instead to have formed "a people's coalition."
He will now be under intense pressure to deliver on his pre-election promise of better security, more jobs and an end to the county's rampant graft.
"Remember what I am saying now,'' the 55-year-old said during a televised debate last week. "And keep an eye on me for the next five years."
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