WHAT is there to say when our leaders stand divided, competing against each other for the July 8 presidential election? The people must now get used to seeing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla no longer working in tandem, a far cry from the time they first bonded in 2004.

In this campaign season, the public seems hard-put to accept the fact that the two leaders are preparing a war of nerves, full of mutual