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Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla has said public debates in the 2009 presidential election would be more positive and fairer than election campaigns.

"Public debates are more positive than election campaigns," Kalla said in Padang, West Sumatra, when he was asked to comment on a proposal for public debates rather than election campaigns in next year`s general election.

The vice president said time has changed. As a result, 10 percent of the population in the country had a television, and 90 percent listened to the radio.

"General meetings in the run up to presidential election are less essential than public debate," Kalla said.

Kalla admitted that he had just watched a public debate in the Central Java regional election, and said it was good enough and was even better if the same would be conducted at national level.

"Public debates is a kind of competition of ideas and thoughts, watched by people television and listened to on the radio," Kalla said, adding that a general meeting would only be attended by about 100,000 people.

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