Ask for God's guidance!
Ask for God's guidance!
From Pikiran Rakyat
American politicians may well consider our upcoming general election, which 48 parties will contest, more democratic than polls in the United States. If the number of political parties participating in the elections is your yardstick, well, you may as well take pride in the general election in Indonesia in view of the number of political parties taking part in it.
But please don't forget that in this respect Indonesians must be extra-intelligent to be able to assess, analyze and compare all the 48 parties before they can make a rational choice. I bet most Americans, with their long tradition of democracy, would be baffled by the prospect of having to make a really rational choice out of 48 political parties. Things would be plain sailing indeed, with respect to making a rational choice out these 48 political parties, if Indonesians had as good a reasoning capacity as American politicians.
One sure thing, however, is that you should not think that voters are devoid of good political reasoning if their choice is still colored by "like and dislike".
Therefore, it stands to reason that some quarters have hinted that the 48 political parties, apart from being ready to win the elections, must also be really prepared to be good losers.
At this juncture allow me to call on all eligible voters to rely on God's guidance in making a choice about a political party. They may have this guidance by performing certain rites or praying in accordance with their respective religions.
It may happen that different people will have His guidance to choose different political parties. If this is so, this will be the way God brings about justice to save this nation. Or perhaps God will save this nation by not giving any guidance at all, no matter how serious you are in your rites or prayers.
And one more thing: in introducing the programs of their parties, the campaigners should never try to act as if they know better than God about the future by stating that things will be certain to be like this or that.
Instead, they should call on the people to ask for His guidance before making a choice.
ADJIR ESA POETRA
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