Operating from a rundown house with a small sign in front, Mardiono exudes the confidence of a politician who can smell power for his party ahead of Indonesia's parliamentary elections next month.
As chief of the Golkar party in Blitar, Mardiono should have his work cut out winning votes in a town where Indonesia's first president Sukarno is buried and which is a bulwark of support for his daughter, incumbent leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But Mardiono predicts a jump in votes for Golkar in this East Java town as the former political vehicle of ex-president Suharto taps nostalgia for the three decades of rapid economic growth and stability that marked his autocratic rule.
"Before it was hard to find people to work for Golkar in Blitar," said Mardiono, referring to the hostility many residents still feel toward Suharto, who deposed Indonesia's charismatic first president in the mid-1960s and whose own rule was criticised for graft and human rights abuses.
"Now they are coming to us, asking to join the party. The dynamics are changing," added the Golkar functionary, who has just one name, like many Indonesians.
What emerges in conversations with dozens of ordinary people in towns and villages across Indonesia's main island of Java one month before the April 5 parliamentary elections is plenty of disappointment with Megawati's government and party.
Complaints range from high prices to difficulty finding work to a sense that Megawati's Indonesia Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) has abandoned the "wong cilik", or little people, the party insists it represents.
On an island where mysticism has deep roots, there also appears to be little interest in a group of small, conservative Islamic parties using religion to try to capture votes in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
All this has helped the secular-nationalist Golkar regain some of the ground it lost when Suharto quit in disgrace in 1998 as the country slid into economic and political chaos.
And nothing is more important than winning a big chunk of Java, dotted with volcanoes, lush rice fields and home to more than half of Indonesia's 220 million people.
With 24 parties taking part and none expected to get near a 50 percent majority, the parliamentary results will be vital to the horse-trading expected to determine coalition alliances for Indonesia's first direct presidential election in early July.
Opinion polls put Megawati's party and Golkar neck and neck, or Golkar just in front, before the April elections.
Those polls show support for either party around the 20 to 30 percent level, prompting Golkar's leader to float the idea of a coalition with Megawati in July.
PDI-P won 34 percent of the vote in the 1999 parliamentary election, against Golkar's 22.5 percent.
With the election campaign set to kick off on March 11, Megawati's party has plenty of persuading to do.
"I have to work like this to support my children," moaned Samiwah, as she dug sand from a river bank with her bare hands near the village of Wonorejo in Central Java, hoping to sell it to local building contractors.
"I remember under Suharto getting assistance. Now there is nothing. What kind of life is this?" she said, working on the slopes of Mount Merapi, one of Java's most dangerous volcanoes.
But instead of accusing Megawati directly, some Indonesians point the finger at her party or others for their plight.
In their eyes, Megawati is not to blame.
As the daughter of Sukarno, Megawati draws much of her support among the masses from the memory of her father, who declared the nation's independence.
To some, her reticent leadership style and homely manner also keep her above the fray of Indonesia's political rough and tumble, where personalities often matter more than policies. Polls show she is still Indonesia's most popular politician.
In Blitar, 650 km (400 miles) east of Jakarta, Mardiono expects to increase Golkar's vote by half, to 24 percent from 16 percent. But some people in the town will never be convinced.
"Megawati still has many supporters. She is the daughter of Bung (Brother) Karno," said Syamsul Arifin, a parking attendant, wearing a T-shirt with a portrait of Megawati that reads, "Without you we are nothing".
Ali Muji, head of PDI-P's election campaign in East Java, said he was convinced the party would not lose votes next month.
"What has been done by Megawati is good enough," he said.
Megawati has ushered in political stability, and the stock market and currency have strengthened under her rule.
Beyond the politicians and surveys, one person who can attest to Golkar's rising fortunes is Ulfa Fitria, 30, owner of a shop in Java's ancient royal city of Yogyakarta that sells party goods ranging from flags and T-shirts to badges.
"Golkar is very popular, it seems they are having a revival," said Fitria, adding sales were brisk ahead of the start of the formal election campaign.
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