W

hile President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been portrayed as a victim in the spying row with Australia, the growing nationalist sentiment against a '€œhostile'€ neighbor at home may give his ailing Democratic Party an edge before the 2014 general elections.

Yudhoyono was having a hard time before the spying scandal escalated following the revelations by Australian media that he and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono had been victims of wiretapping attempts by Australian intelligence.

His approval rating continued to plunge, while his ruling party had been struggling to repair its image following a slew of graft scandals involving its top members.

Last month, the President himself was forced to hold a press conference to deny his association with a woman believed to have played a role in a high-profile corruption case.

Yudhoyono has been widely seen as being sufficiently tough in dealing with the spying scandal.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Siti Zuhro said that the President'€™s actions in response to the alleged wiretapping by Australia certainly had a positive effect on Yudhoyono'€™s image and his Democratic Party.

'€œThis is because the President'€™s actions are in line with what the people want and feel. If he did nothing, the scandal would certainly bite back at him,'€ Siti said.

However, assuming tensions between the two countries will be resolved soon, Siti noted that the effect might be short term and not necessarily last up to the general elections in 2014.

'€œWhat we can take from the Indonesia-Australia tensions is a feel for the political parties'€™ platforms on foreign policy and their degree of nationalism, which may be a consideration for the 2014 election,'€ Siti said. '€œParties like the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Democratic Party and the Golkar Party have sent out strong responses on the issue, whereas others have been less robust,'€ she added.

Ari Dwipayana, a political analyst at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), said that Yudhoyono and his party would gain politically from the case as the President had taken a strong stance on the issue that would be positively accepted by the people. '€œSociety will appreciate his stance, but maybe not for long,'€ he said.

As an indication, @SBYudhoyono saw a jump in Twitter followers after the President denounced on
Monday Australia'€™s wiretapping, garnering 42,900 more followers as of Friday, according to twittercounter.com. The week before that, Yudhoyono had only 27,300 followers. Now his followers total more than 4 million.

While most politicians only made statements condemning the wiretapping, recently appointed Democratic Party spokesman Ruhut Sitompul took to the streets on Thursday and led demonstrators outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. On Friday, the outspoken politician claimed that the wiretapping scandal had benefited his party. '€œAfter Snowden, after the wiretapping by Australia, the people are supporting SBY,'€ he said as quoted by an online media source on Friday.

Hasto Kristianto, PDI-P deputy secretary-general, lauded the government'€™s stance on the wiretapping issue, but said that the public would still hold other issues against
Yudhoyono and his party.

'€œAfter nine years of his leadership, we still have a current-account deficit and dependence on imports, so clearly other factors will still keep the public perception of his party low,'€ Hasto said over the phone.

He noted that what was happening now may be the result of the government'€™s general weak foreign policy. '€œYudhoyono may prefer talk about the Bali Democracy Forum instead of our migrant workers,'€ Hasto said.

'€œIt is because of the government'€™s stance on this and other issues that the international community sees us as weak,'€ he added. (asw)