Is Soeharto really better than SBY?

A recent public opinion survey conducted by Indo Barometer shows that the late former President Soeharto is more popular than President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY).

The survey, conducted from 24 April until 4 May 2011 on 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces of Indonesia, shows that 36.5% choose Soeharto as the most favorite President of the country, 20.9 % choose SBY, 9.8% choose the late President Soekarno, 9.8% choose former President Megawati, 4.4% choose former President Habibie and 4.3% choose the late former President Abdurrachman Wahid. 

Beside that, the survey also show that 40.9% of the respondents prefer the condition during Soeharto's New Order regime, compared to only 22.8% who preferred the so called post 21 May 1998 Reformasi Era.

In reaction to that survey result, Presidential Palace spokesman questioned the reliability of the respondents, who are they, what are the parameters of the survey.

As a person who has experienced living during the Soeharto era, I felt that the above survey result is not accurate because it was only conducted on 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces, no details about the respondents like their ages, do they know that Soeharto was a ruthless authoritarian ruler, et cetera.

In my opinion, the survey should be carried out on at least 100 respondent per province (total 3,300), they should at least be 17 years old when Soeharto stepped down 13 years ago, their education level should be mentioned, they should be explained that Soeharto was a ruthless authoritarian ruler, while President SBY is a liberal democratic ruler.