Election 2004 is for tomorrow, not for today

Election 2004 is for tomorrow, not for today

Wimar Witoelar
InterMatrix Communications
Jakarta
wimar@perspektif.net

Around 145 million Indonesian voters will go to the poll
stations around the country today. There has not been as much
international news about Indonesia as there was in the past. The
trouble spots in the world command the major news stories,
because of their direct impact on the home countries of the
global news services. It is not newsworthy to report the sigh of
relief which is spreading throughout the archipelago.

Contrary to the fears of many, the campaigning period has
passed off relatively peacefully. A substantial part of the
campaining has moved to TV clips, debates, print ads and
billboards, boosting parts of the economy. Even the money going
around to pay for campaign supporters had a positive impact to
boost consumer spending as billions of rupiah have flooded the
market.

There is, however, much less passion in the campaigning. Part
of the reason is public apathy related to fatigue, dashed hopes
at betterment of living conditions. The current government has
effectively doused the fire of reform that burned in our hearts
since the magic of 1998. Soeharto was pushed from power by sheer
emotional commitment of students and the masses. But then the
politicians who took over from the popular movement failed to use
the momentum for true reform. Instead they established a new
political elite and brought cynicism upon the political
landscape.

The Megawati government curiously reflects more of the
Soeharto political culture than the pioneering spirit of her
father Sukarno, and it was by exploiting his image that she was
put in power by her political handlers. Now presidential
candidates include known corruptors and alleged violators of
human rights. Not really leaders to build your dreams on.

There is little optimism for the 2004 elections if you are
looking at immediate results but there is immense potential if
you think of the future. Quite the reverse of the situation after
Soeharto's fall when there was a sense of immediate relief, but
little readiness for real reform. At that time new public leaders
were perceived as reformists. Now we have the first election run
by a body (the General Election Commission or KPU) which is
independent of government intervention. But the candidates are
either retreads of past regimes or opportunists trying out newly
acquired skills of abuse of power and corruption. It is now a
case of good guys electing bad guys,

So who are the good guys? They are the people who now run the
elections. Many jokes are circulated over the logistical mishaps
in preparations for the elections. Delays in printing and
distributing voting ballots, lack of information and problems in
communications.

Curiously, people miss the point that the KPU is unprecedented
anywhere in the world of elections. The figures are mind-
boggling: More than 400,000 candidates, over 600 million copies
of more than 2,000 different ballot papers, to be distributed to
600,000 polling stations spread out across the world's
archipelago country, and all the votes will be cast in the first
few hours of April 5.

But the really good guys are the people who will go vote. The
ordinary man and woman who want a better life, who never want
trouble, who prove everyday that they are good folks. People who
live in peace when there is no activity from shadowy figures from
the state inciting riots against the Chinese-Indonesians or among
religions.

People who do not condone terrorism and get irritated when
their attitude is doubted. The funny thing, is that because the
bad guys are now reinstated in the system after brave, but
ultimately frustrated, attempts to push them out from 1998 to
2001, they have stopped masterminding mayhem to destabilize the
governments of 1998-2001. They prefer having their images on TV
commercials and campaign posters and like the idea of being
invited as luncheon speakers and embassy guests.

So why is there optimism? Well, processes and results rarely
happen at the same time. When you work out in the gym it is all
sweat and tears, but weeks later your biceps and triceps bulge
and make you proud. When you buy a water pump it produces dirty
water initially, but after a few days the clean water starts to
flow out. Parents raise their children with a mixture of hope and
grief, but when the children become adults they bring all the joy
in the world, if you are as lucky as I have been.

Indonesia has to be lucky now because we have been so unlucky
in the past. Indonesia is a war child, giving birth to itself not
by the good graces of colonialists but by intense armed conflict.
We have had to fight against religious conflict, with greater
success than most outsiders may think. We have had social
upheavals, political turnarounds and economic collapse unmatched
in the area. This has given some of us a measure of humility,
some a sense of inferiority, and in a few cases syndromes of
belligerence, after a century of bloodshed wrought upon their
people and on other people from all over the world.

It is good that Islam is not a point of conflict in Indonesia.
This is contrary to the assumption of outside observers. We can
tell good people apart from bad people even when Muslims look
particularly frightening to outsiders. No party with a serious
chance has picked up a religious theme except soothing messages
of tolerance. There is no anti-foreigner rhetoric. Pluralism is
our theme as we downplay ethnic, religious and regional
differences.

Generations must pass for democracy to fully develop. What we
have now is just the beginning. It has been only six years since
we sent off a repressive regime. What we have now is at worst a
messy state, and at best a fledgling democracy. Democratic change
has to come from within. Sacrifices brought now, for democracy
and human rights, are likely to pre-empt future suffering and
pain, because in the end people will claim their legitimate
democratic rights, whatever the cost. These are inevitable truths
that we must recognize and build on. The elections will not bring
salvation today. But will build the political infrastructure for
tomorrow.