Disappointing situation

Disappointing situation

I am writing in response to Mr. Gottfried Roelcke's letter Has
the MPR failed the people?". I am a PAN voter, and I supported
Megawati Soekarnoputri to become president because her party was
the winner, no matter that some people called it a simple or
absolute majority, or even if an expatriate like Mr. Roelcke
thinks that it was not the winner. And Ms. Ratnaningsih is right,
I am one of those PAN voters who are very disappointed in Amien
Rais' inconsistency, the same with what happened to his secretary
general, Faisal Basri.

I think Amien Rais is not a true reformist. He was elected
chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly with the support
of Golkar, a party that he always condemned in the past. As soon
as he was elected he became very soft toward reform, like he has
forgotten all of that since he is happy now in his new "chair".
And his party turned out to be supporters of Habibie. He also
proudly declared that he was supported by Habibie to be president
after Habibie's speech was rejected. Very disappointing indeed!

If they had been clear from the start about their intention to
support Habibie, many people like me would have voted for another
party. This is deception to the core and these "people's"
representatives deserve every bit of Ms. Ratnaningsih's
condemnation. Why won't these people give Megawati a chance?
What has she done wrong other than being a woman and very quiet?
Isn't this attitude nauseating? We've been crying hell that we
want to change, that's why Golkar only got less that 20 percent
votes (actually), but these people just don't want to listen to
us. Their only concern is their own good.

Amien Rais is as much an opportunist as many other members of
the central axis force. They are not fighting for Islam, the way
they want us to believe. I am a Muslim myself and don't feel they
represent me.

I think for little people like me, it is clear, the point is
not about Megawati or the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan), even if genies have won the election, they
should deserve to rule the country. Only the political elite
makes it look like 65 percent of voters rejected Megawati.
Besides, I read in Kompas that PDI Perjuangan's votes are "gold
votes" meaning that its votes are expensive: Rp 250,000 for one
seat in Java as opposed to Rp 100,000 in Sulawesi. On top of
that, various polls by many different media and independent
organizations clearly show that most people want Megawati as
their president, not Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus
Dur, or Habibie; though personally, I prefer Gus Dur than
Megawati. With the National Awakening Party and other small
fractions' support, PDI Perjuangan has got virtually over 50
percent of votes, and if all this is not a sign of victory, Mr.
Roelcke should go back to school and learn more mathematics.

Demonstrations and riots should not be about why one party
should or shouldn't rule, but election result is. If Megawati had
ruled and riots were everywhere, well... these people need to
learn more about democracy.

Why does Mr. Roelcke think Gus Dur wants Megawati to be his
vice president? Isn't the crux of the matter clear, that the
election winner's supporters have to be heard? Expatriates
sometimes cannot see beyond the superficiality. They don't know
what Indonesian people really think and want. They don't like
Megawati because they think she is dumb, while Habibie is smart,
educated, speaks English well. Well, I don't like Megawati, but
she is better than many other political clowns who are sitting in
the Assembly. She is honest and straight, unlike Amien Rais and
his ilk.

FARIDA HANUM

Jakarta