As the U.S. eagerly waits for its new president Barack Obama to take office on Jan. 20, the world's third largest democracy, Indonesia, has just started off on the long road to electing the president and vice president for 2009-2014.

The House of Representatives (DPR) passed last week the presidential election bill in "injury time" after months of squabbling over the issue of how much of the vote a party or a coalition of parties must get to be eligible to nominate a candidate for president.

Content-wise, the newly passed bill appears to ensure a strong government under a presidential system, as the elected leaders will secure support from at least 20 percent of the members of the House and 25 percent of voters in the legislative election. The 2003 presidential law was far more lenient as it allowed a party that controlled only 3 percent of the House or won 5 percent of the popular vote in the legislative election to run for the top job.

The new bill also threatens to jail candidates who approach the election as a mere political adventure and quit the race at will. The presidential election next year will hopefully see a field of candidates who enjoy not only popular support but also strong financial support: candidates who mean to win the election and know all the consequences they have to face.

A presidential candidate will need to invest billions or perhaps trillions of rupiah to finance his or her campaign, image building and teamwork. The candidates have to understand their extraordinarily high-risk investment, which they will lose if they fail to win the presidency.

Strong political support from the House is necessary in the country's political system just to make sure an administration works unhindered. The first three administrations since the democratic election in 1999 experienced tough horse trading in any key policymaking because they were founded by political parties that failed to win an outright majority.

Such a stalemate not only wasted too much of the government's time and energy, but also exhausted the resources it needs to deliver services to the public. This give-and-take practice among the political elite groups is prone to abuse of the public's faith as it often serves only the elites' short-term interests.

Worse, the current political practices have forced an elected president to compromise his or her prerogative in selecting Cabinet ministers or other officials. To maintain the harmony, the president also has to fairly distribute official positions in either government institutions or state enterprises.

Stability that is obtained through a harmony of interests does not constitute a strong government. It instead showcases a government's failing as it has to struggle not to be held hostage by its own supporters.

A strong and stable government does not necessarily require the use of force, as happened in the New Order period, but is one that manages to realize its pre-election promises without much opposition.

A number of parties and political figures who have declared their presidential aspirations may have turned a blind eye to the real politics the country is dealing with when they announced a plan to file a judicial review of the newly passed bill because of the electoral threshold, which they say is in violation of citizens' constitutional right to run for president.

While this argument seems noble, these contenders fail to look at common practice and sense, which tell us that being a leader requires certain qualities that elude average people. Indeed, not every one is eligible to lead.

What is lacking in the presidential election bill is certainly the absence of a ban on the elected president and vice president from holding party positions. The lawmakers opted to leave the matter to the good will of political parties, which is totally absurd at a time when the public's faith in the parties is waning.

The country's founding fathers displayed their exemplary statesmanship when they cut their ties to their parties and dedicated their life to the state. Given the mounting challenges the nation is facing, the president and vice president cannot divide their loyalty. As leaders, the president and vice president are figures who belong to and oversee all parties.

Not only is the double job prone to abuse of the state budget for party gains. It will also spark conflicts of interest, which will harm the confidence of nonconstituent voters and the whole nation.

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