For a better election

For a better election

We may live in an imperfect world, but, as the Indonesian
saying goes, we still can expect things to be better today than
yesterday, and for tomorrow to be better than today. Such
expectations of natural progression should also apply to how we
view the 2004 elections.

Nobody is saying that next year's elections will be perfect.
This, after all, will only be the second time that we, as a
nation, are organizing free and fair elections since we emerged
from more than three decades of undemocratic rule in 1998.

As a nation, we are perhaps still at the bottom of a long
curve in learning democracy. We are still learning the ropes of
nation-building and what it takes to create a truly democratic
society. And we still have a long way to go.

But we can, and should, expect that 2004 will be better than
the 1999 elections, and going by the Indonesian saying, that
things should further improve in 2009.

This is the minimum expectation that this nation has in terms
of the national political development. Whether or not this is
really the case to a large extent depends on us all. It is with
this thought in mind that we should look at the House's decision
on Monday to endorse the bill on presidential election.

This latest piece of legislation joins two newly enacted laws
-- one on the general elections and the other on political
parties -- that lay the foundation for the nation's main
political agenda next year: the general elections scheduled for
April, and the presidential election before October 2004.

The newly endorsed bill on presidential election will still
have to be signed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri before it
becomes law, but given the extensive involvement of her own
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in the
deliberation of the bill, the signing is a mere formality.

Most, if not all, of the contentious points have been resolved
by the factions in the House. The lengthy debate on these
contentious points unfortunately have distracted attention from
what is probably the most significant aspect of the bill.

It is therefore worth reminding the nation that this piece of
new legislation is very significant because it will allow the
people in this country, for the first time in Indonesia's modern
history, to directly elect their president and vice president.

This, in itself, suggests that we are making significant
progress, perhaps even a leap, in making ours a more democratic
society. For the first time, the people will exercise greater
control in how this nation elects its president and vice
president, a task that in the past was entrusted to elected and
appointed politicians in the People's Consultative Assembly.

Some of us may have reservations about certain aspects of the
bill, but the House must still be commended for going forward,
and not backtracking, on the direct presidential election plan.

Naturally, although they are no longer in full control of the
outcome of next year's presidential election, the major factions
in the House will still try to control the process. The incumbent
parties will always try to ensure that the rules of the game
favor their chances over other, smaller newcomers.

Thus, the debate over the last few weeks in the House focused
more on whether a presidential candidate should be a university
graduate, or whether or not a convicted criminal could run.

The first was an obvious reference to Megawati, who is a
college dropout (and not merely a high school graduate). The
second refers to Akbar Tandjung, the House Speaker and chairman
of Golkar, the second largest faction after PDI Perjuangan, who
is fighting off a corruption conviction in the Supreme Court.

These were the two points that delayed the bill's endorsement,
and not coincidentally, affected the two largest factions in the
House. When it was finally endorsed, it came as no surprise that
the House came to a compromise: Both a high school graduate and a
convicted criminal can run for president.

The House's compromise, and the lengthy debate and arm-
twisting that went behind it, becomes a moot point. Since this
will be a direct presidential election, the people will decide
whether someone without a college diploma, or even someone with a
criminal record, is worthy of the job.

There is no doubt that the outcome of next year's presidential
election will largely be in the hands of the people. The
political parties can only control the process.

History is on our side when it comes to organizing free and
fair, and violence-free elections. Many pundits had predicted
that the 1999 polls would turn ugly and violent because the
nation was basically not ready for democracy and differences of
opinions.

These doomsayers were proven convincingly wrong. The 1999
elections were even smoother than all the six farcical elections
that were held under Soeharto's rule.

1999 was a watershed in Indonesian politics. It proved that we
as a nation are ready for democracy and can live up to the values
of democracy. On that note, we should all be confident that 2004
will definitely be better than 1999.