Perceptions of Indonesian politics in the run-up to the 2009 general election

Indonesia has had ten years of constitutional democracy since the end of the Suharto era. In 2009 the country heads again to a national election. In the lead-up period the major parties have been pressing not only to reduce the number of parties eligible to stand, but to create conditions in which a future president can only come from a major party, which is not the situation at present. At the same time, there are almost weekly reports in the Indonesian media of corruption allegations and charges against both local and national politicians. This paper considers survey and interview data on the opinions of members of the general public in Central Java about the performance of political parties and the political elite in the run-up to the 2009 election. Selected newspaper coverage of political corruption cases is also considered.