Suharto more popular than SBY?
Surprising, perhaps, but when the chips are down, many Indonesians have tended to show nostalgia for the New Order in recent years, particularly in 2008 when Suharto died. There are a great number of people in Indonesia who feel that their lives were better under Suharto than now. This isn't to suggest that SBY is necessarily unpopular, but the stability of the New Order, albeit a superficial one, is something many people miss. Furthermore, this is a survey of 1,200 people out of 240 million, so take it for what it's worth. It's also part of an attempt to boost the image of the deceased dictator.
Indonesia's late former dictator Suharto is more popular than current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a poll found, despite his regime's reputation for corruption and repression.
The Indo Barometer poll of 1,200 people found just over 40 per cent of respondents believed "conditions were better" under the rule of the military strongman, while nearly 23 per cent favoured the liberal ex-general Yudhoyono.
More than one-third of those polled picked him as their favourite president and 40 per cent considered him to be "most successful in carrying out duties as an Indonesian president".
Only 20 per cent rated Yudhoyono as their favourite, while four other former presidents including founding president Sukarno each garnered less than ten per cent support.
[The survey] found most respondents felt politics, the economy, security and social welfare were better during Suharto's 32 years of autocratic rule, which ended in 1998.(AFP)
umm, humans have an evolutionary propensity to remember the good and to forget the bad. Most likely because otherwise our forebears, living a 'natural' life (i.e. nasty, brutish and short) would commit suicide rather than go on. This explains the post-appreciation of fascist dictators such as Suharto, Stalin, Franco, and the rest.
As to whether their life is better now or before, is most likely not due to S or to his successors.