Grassroots excel in democracy

Grassroots excel in democracy

Today is the first of a three-day of cooling-off period prior
to Monday's legislative election. Jakartans and residents of
other big cities across the country may heave a sigh of relieve.
Gone is the noisy traffic congestion caused by carnivals of
motorized party supporters. Gone is the scene of party supporters
on motorbikes, wearing green, red, yellow, white or other party
color on their T-shirts carrying party flags running the traffic
lights.

A feeling of relieve may also felt by many Indonesians
throughout the archipelago. Except a few minor incidents, the
campaign has been carried out relatively peacefully.

The number of casualties is very low in the 22-day campaign
period. The much feared riots or clashes between party supporters
that usually accompany political campaigning did not materialize.
Only around ten people died so far, mostly caused by accidents,
compared to 237 in 1997 elections and 174 in 1999 elections. Most
of the victims in the last two instances died of clashes with
other party supporters.

What makes the changes? Optimists say that party supporters
are learning that it is right to be different. The traditional
attitude of perceiving supporters from other parties as enemies
may have started to erode. But to conclude that today's party
supporters are more ready to accept differences is perhaps too
hasty. Nevertheless, the lower rate of victims is an encouraging
sign.

Pessimists say that the tradition of attendance payments are
more wide spread today. The number of so-called professional
supporters, those who join the campaign in support of any party
for money, is on the increase. Surely they have no emotional ties
with the parties they are campaigning for. Hence, the absence of
the needs to be hostile to supporters of other parties who might
also be "paid supporters". It is difficult to gauge now which one
of the two opinions, the optimist or the pessimist, is closer to
truth.

Kudos should go to the supporters, first of all, since they
are the ones who rub their shoulders with other supporters.
Encouragement from party leadership may or may have not
influenced their constituents in a positive way. Compare this
with clashes among the elite, notably between President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and her top security minister Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, or internal leadership rifts in major parties like
Golkar and the Nation Awakening Party (PKB).

Credit is also due to the police force who have the courage to
punish violators, especially traffic violation cases committed by
party supporters. It is a far cry from the 1999 elections when
policemen seemed to be powerless in front of violators. At that
time the image of the military, including the police which were
only detached from the military in 2000, was at its lowest ebb.

How wonderful it would be if party supporters taking part in
street campaign will one day abide by traffic rulings, thereby
allowing other road users to exercise their rights.

So far so good as far as the elections is concern. But it is
still a long way to go. This is just the first stage of the
election. There will be a presidential election on July 5 and
possible run-off elections on Sept. 20. It is our hope that the
follow-up elections will also be as peaceful.

There are other reasons why this year's campaigning is
encouraging. Past diversions seem to be on decline. Religious
hypes, xenophobism, primordialism, regionalism in political
rhetorics seemed to be on the wane.

Islam, a popular topic in the past, is almost a non-issue
today, especially in urban areas. The erstwhile statements
touching on Islam were largely confined in street banners.
Moreover, not a single party seems to purposely pick up religious
theme. Anti-foreign rhetorics were also absence. The same with
issues related to ethnicity and regionality.

Certainly there are still a lot of weaknesses. The logistics
issue, for example, has been controversial from the start. But
didn't we have an independent General Elections Commissions (KPU)
for the first time now? Being a new independent institution
KPU of course have its weaknesses. But it certainly is much
better with the 1999 KPU which had elements from political
parties. Often they fought over menial matters like salaries,
cars and others. Today's KPU has yet to become a good team player
with regional commissions (KPUD) and the bureaucracy.

Democracy takes a long time to grow. This is just the
beginning. Indonesia has just come out of a repressive regime six
years ago. What we have now is an immature democracy, especially
among the elite, but a step forward, however small, is
encouraging at the very least.