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ormer vice president Jusuf Kalla and outgoing Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD are the most popular candidates for the 2014 presidential election, a top polling body says.

In its latest opinion poll, the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) said that 79 percent of a total 223 respondents said that Kalla was the most capable presidential candidate, citing his reputation for risk-taking and firm and decisive leadership.

Mahfud was second in the survey, garnering a favorable impression of his leadership ability from 74
percent of respondents.

On popularity, Mahfud scored better than Kalla, with 79 percent of the respondents reporting that they had a positive image of Mahfud, who was just ahead of Kalla, who was liked by 77 percent respondents.

Both politicians were deemed honest and trustworthy by respondents, who comprised top journalists, political analysts, NGO leaders, university lecturers with doctoral degrees and religious leaders.

Also high on the list of potential contenders in 2014, according to the survey, were Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, his predecessor Sri Mulayani Indrawati and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan.

However, the survey, conducted across the nation between January and May, said that only a few political party leaders could be considered serious presidential contenders.

The party figures that fared best in the survey were Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairperson and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and her daughter Puan Maharani, who leads the PDI-P lawmakers in the House of Representatives. At the bottom of the list were Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chief patron Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, and People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) chairman Gen. (ret.) Wiranto.

Prabowo and Wiranto fared poorly due to allegations of human rights violations that have continued to dog the former generals, while First Lady Ani Yudhoyono’s prospects suffered from the corruption allegations that have implicated a host of the Democratic Party’s lawmakers and officials, according to the LSI.

“The opinion leaders [interviewed for the survey] have comprehensive knowledge about each candidate. They know their achievements. We must begin to promote these people in order to see changes here,” LSI executive director Kuskridho Ambardi said.

Separately, Kalla said that his good showing indicated that the nation urgently needed a different breed of leader. “The future of a nation depends on its leaders. No matter how good the system is, it will not work unless the leader does something with it,” Kalla said.

Kalla also said that rampant corruption, poor law enforcement and inconsistent policies were the result of poor leadership styles. “It seems to me that people today are killing one another or that the destruction of public facilities in the name of the majority is legal because nobody does anything about it. Meanwhile, on the economy, I don’t know why the government thinks that providing a huge amount of [fuel and energy] subsidies will help,” he said.

Kalla said that he could clean up the mess, if voters chose him in 2014. “This will be hard to do, but I want to do it. I hope I can be the leader that this country needs, as the survey has revealed.”

Meanwhile, Mahfud remained tight-lipped on his presidential ambitions. “I can’t decide now because it will affect my present position as chief justice with the Constitutional Court, as well as at my [academic] institution. Let’s wait until after my term expires in April.”