Indonesian scholars abroad place hope in election

Maggie Tiojakin, Contributor/Boston, Massachusetts, mathe_80@yahoo.com

While millions of Indonesians stood in line, waiting for their turn at one of the 600,000 polling stations across the archipelago during the April 5 legislative election, Jaha Nababaan, 31, a Fulbright scholar currently studying Educational Media and Technology at Boston University, Massachusetts, had it easy.

Jaha, along with thousands of other overseas voters, mailed in his vote to the Indonesian Consulate in New York for the election -- a privilege unavailable to most Indonesians. In addition, the ballot papers were delivered to his apartment days before the election.

New England, home to roughly 5,000 Indonesian academics and professionals, is notorious for its frigid climate. Jaha found it a blessing that he wasn't required to attend the election in New York personally -- aside from the weather, it is also a four-hour drive from home.

With the general anxiety surrounding the 2004 general election, Jaha, who has been staying in the U.S. since last August, said he was very eager to participate in the event, although regrettably, he would miss the July 5 presidential election due to travel arrangements he has made on that date.

Jaha confided that his observations of "the relationship between" Americans and their government had raised his own political awareness of Indonesia.

Asked his thoughts on the 24 parties vying for legislative seats in the election, Jaha dismissed them as "elite personifications" in the country's political battle. "(These parties) have no grassroots visions or missions."

He also pointed out that the government's decision to engage the general public in a direct election did not automatically grant it implicit trust.

"The new electoral system will create a new equilibrium of power-sharing in which the (elected) president will get stuck in the middle, and therefore will be prone to being made a scapegoat when the system fails."

On whether Indonesia is ready to practice "true democracy", Jaha argued that Indonesians should begin "a quest to find our own democracy, instead of some given or forced values." However, he thinks it is too soon to tell where the country is going with the election.

Daynah Sukardi, 24, a Pelita Harapan University graduate and a former public relations officer at Sea World Indonesia, is currently studying Mandarin Chinese at Zhejiang University in Hang Zhou province, China, and shared Jaha's view.

"It's too early in the process to make comments on (the election)," said Daynah during an online interview. Regardless, she admitted that she was less confident about the results. "Politics is politics," she said, already becoming uninterested in the subject.

With the Golkar Party leading in the legislative race -- 21 percent of votes at the time this article was written -- Daynah feared that Indonesia might fall into the same pattern as that during Soeharto's leadership.

Yet, the present government has not left a memorable impression on her either. "I guess it's better to have a failed government than no government at all," Daynah said.

Reading the list of potential presidential candidates, she remarked that it did not matter who got elected, "as long as he or she is able to make some good changes in the country's socioeconomic condition". She declined an answer when asked whether she was participating in the election.

On the other hand, Budiman Wiharja, 22, a graduate student at Ohio State University, and Kennedy Muslim, 22, a finance major at the same university, feel fairly optimistic about the election.

"I think the most important thing is not the end result, but the process of the event itself," Budiman said. Kennedy agreed. "There are gigantic tasks in front of us still, yet looking at the young generation, I am very optimistic," he said via email.

In regards the 1998 student riots, Budiman and Kennedy explained that although they were still in high school at the time and therefore had less interest in politics, the incident was a wake-up call to their generation.

"I followed the event on television, but I didn't understand what was at stake through that movement to bring down the New Order regime," Kennedy, a native of Palembang, South Sumatra, said. Contemplating the riots' importance today, he stressed, "the post-reformation age cannot be taken for granted."

Budiman seconded the statement. While he confessed to being "quite naive" during the reformation movement, he said it had somehow left a deep imprint in his mind.

With observers around the world relentlessly speculating on Indonesia's future since Soeharto's ouster in 1998, it is difficult to take a step -- no matter how small -- without sparking new debate. From the country's major break-up with its formerly beloved father figure, to its slow economic advances and to its successive Cabinet reshuffling -- all fell under scrutiny.

One of the latest issues, however, concerns incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri's ambition to run for a second term. In spite of growing criticisms over her leadership, she is not any less hopeful of winning majority votes -- much to some people's dismay.

"Megawati's government failed to end corruption and instead, it has spurred on other devious practices," Kennedy said, pointing out corruption's evil brothers: collusion and nepotism. "I would personally vote for Cak Nur if he had had a political machine to back him up," Kennedy said, referring to prominent Islamic scholar Nurcholish Madjid.

Even so, when it comes to corruption, collusion and nepotism, known locally as KKN, Budiman believes all is not lost. "KKN practices won't end in a utopian sense," he said, yet he was certain changes would be made for the better.

Indonesia, with over 17,000 islands and a 220 million-strong population comprising various ethnic groups and religions, is far from easy to manage under a single flag. The battle for unity continues, as does the battle to improve quality of life.

However, as Kennedy urged cautiously, "there's still hope".

"I like Indonesia best," said Jaha -- despite the experiences of its past seven years and against the backdrop of his observations in a foreign country.