Indonesia began the presidential campaign on Tuesday, with three pairs of candidates seeking support mainly through presentations of their economic program amid the global financial routs.

The three pairs are incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate former central bank governor Boediono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is chairman of the Golkar Party and his running mate former general Wiranto, and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and her running mate former major general Prabowo.

Each pair are predicted to claim that their economic program would bring prosperity to the people, and it would peak during the presidential debates scheduled on June 16 to July 2.

It can be seen in recent days that the three pairs were busy disseminating to the public about the excellence of their economic plan.

The race would end on July 4. Over 176 million voters are expected to cast their vote in the July 8 polls.

President Susilo, who seeks re-election for the next five-year term, has created stability, strong fundamentals on economy, reform on bureaucracy, combating seismic corruption, and led the country pass the global crisis smoothly.

He and his running mate have offered continuation, consistency and better policies that favor investors.

The respected former general had successfully brought the country's economic growth above 6 percent in the past two years, the highest since the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98. During the current global financial crisis, Indonesia's economy grew positively at 4.3 percent in the first quarter of this year along with China and India, when other Asian countries suffered negative growth.

But, the accusation of taking sides for neo-liberalism has made Susilo a little bit busy to deflect it, which could bring down his popularity in the country.

Former president Megawati and her running mate Prabowo, who is a son of late Indonesia's high profile economic figure, offered pro-poor economic development. Prabowo offered a change in allocation of budget which he said was too small for farmers and sailors who account for nearly 60 percent of Indonesia's 230 million population.

Through his television advertisement, Probowo strongly criticized the allocation of only 1.6 percent of the country's budget to farmers and sailors.

With their economic program, the pair were trying to boost economic growth up to a double digit through policies which are strongly taking sides with farmers and sailors.

Not taking any action against corrupters and selling strategic assets to foreign buyers during Megawati's presidency may be a poor advertisement for the pairs, as the voters would compare it with other leadership.

The last pair, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his running mate former general Wiranto, offered a faster economic development. Kalla claimed himself as a figure who could make decisions fast. He also offered an economic program that strongly takes sides with the people.

Kalla stressed on development of infrastructure and the building of power plant as a source of energy for developing industries and economy.

But he did not mention much on combating seismic corruption, collusion and nepotism which have been a big problem in the country.

Source: Xinhua