Desperately seeking briber's photo
JP/2/SIDELine
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
For Ruhayah (not her real name), 50, from Cisauk subdistrict, Serpong, Tangerang, the newspaper-sized ballot paper really confused her.
It was not just that the paper was excessively large; there were 24 party symbols and hundreds of photos of legislative candidates on it.
Illiterate Ruhayah said she stood in the polling booth for about 15 minutes looking for the photo of a legislative candidate who had given her Rp 25,000 (US$2.97) on Sunday.
"I tried to find the photo of the candidate ... but I couldn't because there were too many on the paper," she said.
She finally gave up and punched only a party symbol.
;JP;DJA; ANPAa..r.. Sideline-Soeharto Soeharto vote for Golkar Party JP/2/SIDELINE
Does Soeharto still love Golkar?
The Jakarta Post Jakarta
For journalists, the sight of former president Soeharto voting on Monday caused an adrenalin rush, prompting some to try and peek at which party he voted for.
Some had already speculated that the choice would be either the Golkar Party, which became his political machine during his 32-year presidency, or the newly established Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB). The latter nominated his eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana as its presidential hopeful.
Even when he was toppled in 1998 and Golkar refused to rush to his defense, there was never any inkling that Soeharto might have abandoned the party.
Such enthusiasm forced journalists to try and climb the front gate of the polling station to peek through the low-level partition as Soeharto cast his vote.
"I think he voted for Golkar," several cameramen and photographers concluded.
Maybe, after the two strokes he suffered, the only picture that Soeharto could still remember is the Golkar symbol of a banyan tree with a yellow backdrop, said a journalist.
;JP;PRB; ANPAax..r.. Sidelines-election-pineapple
Convict unable to find pineapple
JP/2/ODD
Before entering the polling booth a prisoner at Kerobokan prison, Badung, Bali, seemed confident while continuing to whisper to himself. Other inmates, however, smiled when the middle-aged man remained in the booth for more than 10 minutes while he continued to search for his favorite political party.
"I could not find the pineapple," the convicted thief said in desperation after leaving the booth, to the laughter of his friends.
Before the election the prison invited the local General Elections Commission (KPUD) to teach the prisoners how to vote. The commission, however, could not use the symbols of the 24 parties during its explanation to the prisoners, so it replaced the symbols with images of fruit.
The thief's favored party was represented by a pineapple.
"The KPUD people said my party used a pineapple. But I couldn't find it on the ballot papers," he complained.