Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The political atmosphere in Indonesia is expected to heat up in 2012 with many incidents happening that will draw much public attention, according to observers.

"I think there will be small political `doomsdays` in 2012 ," M Alfan Alfian from the Akbar Tanjung Institute said here on Tuesday.

He said street demonstrations would be rife as opposition parties are still unable to accommodate popular aspirations.

He said however that the incidents would never lead to the replacement of the national leadership.

"I think the small doomsdays will not become a big doomsday to replace the present leadership. That is not likely to happen," he said.

A political observer from Charta Politika is of the view that a lot of political incidents will happen in 2012 that would heat up the atmosphere as the 2014 general elections were drawing closer and closer.

"Political parties will open their trump cards and attack each other and the situation will become noisier in the runup to 2014," he said.

He said the political atmosphere would become hotter and political cases would be more difficult to control because the opportunity will be opened for all figures to run for president in 2014.

This will happen because, based on the Constitution, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not be able to run again in 2014 as he will have been in the post for two terms by then.

"So everybody feels he/she has an opportunity to run and this will make competition wilder and political atmosphere hotter," he said.

He said actually the open card politics would provide a good momentum for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to carry out its duty more optimally.

"This should benefit the KPK, become a momentum for it to show its power as the hot atmosphere would make many quarters to fire their bullets on politicians involved in cases that the KPK can deal with," he said.(*)

M041/H-YH/HAJM

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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