Megawati most popular among workers

Megawati most popular among workers
Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Fri, 01/23/2009 9:46 AM National
Former president Megawati Soekanorputri and the current Vice President Jusuf Kalla are the most preferable among workers compared to the incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to a survey released Thursday.
It said Yudhoyono is seen by most workers as “unfriendly” to them as he failed to improve their welfare.
The survey, conducted last year by the Federation of United State Enterprise Worker Unions, shows that 30.7 percent of 5,123 respondents, from across the country’s 33 provinces, consider Megawati as the best figure who will be able to improve the conditions for Indonesian workers.

Coming second in the survey is Kalla with 19.6 percent of support, followed by Yudhoyono with 12.7 percent.Another presidential hopeful, Prabowo Subianto, a retired three-star Army general, is the fourth most popular with 7.7 percent of support, and Yogyakarta governor Sultan Hamengkubowono X ranked fifth with 6.5 percent.

When asked whether the respondents would vote for Yudhoyono in the July presidential election for a second term in office, 80.6 percent of them said “no” and only 17.2 percent said “yes”.

Federation chairman FX. Arief Poyuono, when announcing the findings, said most workers believed their economic condition under the Megawati administration was better than under the current Yudhoyono government.
“The workers use a simple way to measure the performance of the government. What they see is that the price of Indomie (instant noodles), rice and public transport have now more than doubled compared to when Megawati was president,” he said.

Confirming this statement, the survey found that 65.7 percent of the respondents considered their household economic condition under Yudhoyono’s administration to be worse than under Megawati.
About 80 percent said transportation, education and health are more costly, and 58.7 percent said Yudhoyono has failed in his term to fight poverty and unemployment.
Kalla, however, is dubbed friendlier than Yudhoyono because he responded better to labor issues.
“He has established better communication with labor unions, and is ready to directly call them when hearing about some problems. Perhaps because he is a businessman, he knows how to cope with labor’s problems better,” Arief said.
Megawati’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) also leads the survey, with 26.7 percent of the respondents seeing it as the best party to help improve their condition.
Kalla’s Golkar Party ranked second with 20.1 percent of the vote, followed by Prabowo’s Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) with 10.9 percent, the Prosperous Justice Party with 9.7 percent, and the United Development Party with 7.3 percent.
Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party only came seventh with 6.3 percent of the vote.

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