Voters told to back aspirants with visions<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Noted scholar Nurcholish Madjid has urged the public at large to
\nvote for a candidate with a good track record, clear vision, and
\nhigh personal integrity in the upcoming presidential election.<\/p>\n
According to Nurcholish, who is popularly known as Cak Nur,
\nthis year's presidential election would produce a very powerful
\npresident.<\/p>\n
"If the elected president is corrupt, the entire nation will
\nbe corrupt. The president will be so strong that nobody can
\ncontrol him or her," Nurcholish said in his keynote speech at a
\nseminar titled "Indonesia 2004, An Economic and Political
\nPerspective: Toward Recovery Effort" here on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The country will see its first ever direct presidential
\nelection on July 5. The presidential election will be preceded by
\na legislative election scheduled for April 5. A total of 24
\npolitical parties have been declared eligible to contest in the
\nlegislative election.<\/p>\n
Under the presidential election law, only political parties or
\ncoalitions of parties gaining three percent of seats in the House
\nof Representatives (DPR), or five percent of the total votes, can
\nnominate a presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
Cak Nur, who has been approached by some political parties to
\nbe their presidential candidate, said the country required a
\npresident who was willing to relinquish his or her own interests.<\/p>\n
"Democracy is a holy war without bloodshed. It is a real war
\nto fight egoism, subjectivity, and vested interests," he said.<\/p>\n
Cak Nur said the 2004 elections should serve as the momentum
\nto revive hope for a better nation.<\/p>\n
The whole nation, he said, must be responsible and make the
\nelections successful by sacrificing their own interests.<\/p>\n
He also said that the nation must maintain the civil liberty
\nthat resulted from the reform movement in 1998, because it was an
\nimportant element of building a transparent and accountable
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
Sociologist Arief Budiman, meanwhile, expressed concern about
\nthe fact that there was a mismatch between the track records of
\npresidential candidates and the number of their supporters.<\/p>\n
"Cak Nur is a good candidate, at least for me, but the number
\nof his supporters is small," he said.<\/p>\n
Arief, a professor of the Melbourne University, said the 2004
\nelections would not result in any significant changes. He,
\nhowever, suggested that the nation ensure the elections ran
\nsmoothly.<\/p>\n
He said that the 2004 elections would only highlight that
\ndemocracy was being exercised in the country.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, political analyst Mochtar Pabottingi with the
\nIndonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that despite the
\nhighly touted reform movement, he doubted that any reforms had
\nactually occurred in the country.<\/p>\n
According to him, there were also indications that remnants of
\nthe New Order regime were attempting to return to the country's
\npolitical stage.<\/p>",
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