REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had been considered as a potential vice presidential candidate for Jokowi, according to a survey.
Sri Mulyani was ranked sixth of ten potential candidates in the Populi Center's recent survey of professionals in Jakarta, with an electability of 5.8 percent.
"Her name (Sri Mulyani) was frequently mentioned as a vice presidential candidate. Although she had long been away from Indonesia, she was still remembered and was in the minds of Jakarta's professionals," Populi Center's head Nico Harjanto said here on Thursday when he presented the survey results.
Topping the list of potential candidates was former vice president Jusuf Kalla with an electability of 21.6 percent, followed by Dahlan Iskan with 16.6 percent, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama with 14.2 percent, Chairul Tanjung with 10 percent and Hatta Rajasa with 8.8 percent.
Sri Mulyani's electability was 5.8 percent, followed by Puan Maharani with 3.0 percent, General Moeldoko with 1.8 percent, Darmin Nasution with 1.3 percent and Agus Martowardojo with 1.2 percent.
The survey had also showed the preference of Jakarta professionals with regard to candidates who are conversant with macro-economics and politics.
Candidates with knowledge of macroeconomics and politics were surveyed because Jokowi, who was considered the favorite candidate for the president, once said that he would prefer someone who was a master in macro-economics and politics as his vice president.
"The result was that five names were selected, namely Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Hatta Rajasa, Sri Mulyani, Agus Martowardojo and Darmin Nasution. The last three names had often emerged," he said.
Political communications expert Effendi Gazali on the occasion said the position of the vice president would determine the winner of the next presidential election.
"Last time SBY would have won even if he was paired with a flip-flop, but not for the presidential candidate now. He would also need other factors," he said.
Effendi said so far Jokowi's capability as a national leader had not yet been seen and this may trigger the emergence of a senior person who was more experienced to pair with him.
"That was why the name Jusuf Kalla had appeared because he was the kind of figure who was needed; a person who can answer questions with examples from his past experience as a vice president," he said.
The survey on Jakarta's professionals' preference for vice president was carried out from March 27 to April 2, involving 1,200 respondents in five regions in Jakarta, selected based on a non-probability, purposive sampling method.
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