Toward an orderly election<\/p>\n
Those who are hoping that one day a person will emerge to lead
\na democratic Indonesia naturally realize the importance of
\npreventing this republic from being destroyed from within. The
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly has issued decrees ordering an
\ninvestigation into the possibly ill-gotten wealth of
\n(former president) Soeharto, his family and cronies. The
\ngovernment needs to accelerate the pace of its investigation even
\nthough it already realizes that it is racing against time. What
\nthe public wants is to see the results of those investigations
\nahead of the forthcoming general election in May or June next
\nyear, or otherwise any charges related to the issue could tarnish
\nthe election.<\/p>\n
The cost would be too high for the general election to be
\ndisavowed by anyone. This is true because a general election is
\nstill the best alternative available for forming a democratic
\ngovernment whose legitimacy is recognized by everyone. The
\nHabibie government has pledged that the balloting will be free
\nand fair and that international observers will be allowed to
\nwatch the proceedings. It would of course be natural that doubts
\nlinger that the voting will indeed be truly clean. The success of
\nthe forthcoming election, however, does not depend on the
\ngovernment alone, but on all of us. With this in mind, the
\nproposition of holding a national dialog is not something that
\nshould be resisted.<\/p>\n
-- Republika, Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/toward-an-orderly-election-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }