Desperately seeking briber's photo

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.