Details are important

As a U.S. citizen familiar with corrupt political practices in my own country, I would like to warn Indonesians to closely examine the details of their new electoral system if they want truly representative government.

In addition to the obvious problems of buying votes and inaccurate ballot counting, which have been an issue in Thailand and the Philippines, there are more subtle problems which can arise when an electoral system is badly designed.

Will Indonesia's next president be elected directly, or through some sort of bizarre Electoral College, like in America.

Will the candidate with the most votes win, as in the Philippines, or will they have a second round of voting, as in France, if no candidate wins a majority in the first round?

Will all parties be represented in the assembly, as in India, or will only parties with over 5 percent of the votes win seats?

Will electoral districts be of equal population, as in the U.S. state legislatures, or will some states have fewer people, but equal power, as in the U.S. Senate?

These are just some of the issues that need to be resolved. Only a large amount of public participation and press scrutiny will prevent a small number of insiders from designing a system to suit their private interests.

CHRISTY LANZL

Boston, USA