Landmark direct election peaceful
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Except for a minor incident in Bali, Monday's runoff polls capping an eight-month election season went on relatively smoothly.
Despite increasing security concerns after a bomb rocked Jakarta just 11 days earlier, with over 100 million voters directly electing their new president.
Most of the 550,000 polling stations completed the process on time, at 1 p.m. although, voter turnout seemed to be down a bit from the first round in July when some 80 percent turned out.
No clashes broke out, including in the politically sensitive provinces such as East Java and Yogyakarta, where the two pairs of candidates Megawati Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla, campaigned intensely.
Police quelled a protest by a dozen supporters of Megawati in Bali expressing disappointment as she looked set to be voted out of office, AFP reported. The protesters burned a tire on the street of Bali's capital Denpasar before police broke them up.
In war-torn provinces such as Aceh and Papua, no clashes were reported in an election earlier called one of the most complex in the world.
The country is home to more than 17,000 islands covering a distance of some 5,000 kilometers, with many of those islands very isolated. In Papua some voters have to walk for two days to a polling station.
On Monday, the nation was seemingly united in a festive mood with some polling station staff dressed in their traditional attire.
In a polling station in Bandung, West Java, election officials wore the Cheong Sam Chinese dress. In Jakarta, officials in a number of polling stations donned the indigenous Betawi attire. In Bali, like in previous elections, officials held traditional rituals and dressed in the famous Balinese outfits.
"The election proves that economic crisis has raised the people's political consciousness. People are realizing that they have to fight for themselves," political analyst H.S. Dillon told The Jakarta Post.
He said that the direct election exercise had been an excellent system and the awareness of the people to take part should be highly received.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Syamsuddin said that during his visit to Lampung on Monday he noticed that the election went as scheduled and there had been no major disturbance.
"We are happy to see that the election went peacefully and as planned," he said.
Analyst Dillon reminded the upcoming president not to turn down people's trust and he or she had to immediately engage in efforts to boost the country's confidence.
"The upcoming president should give hope to the people within the first 100 days. People are willing to sacrifice if they could have a leader that they can trust," Dillon, coordinator of the non-government organization Partnership, said.
The 1945 Constitution was amended in 2000 to make way for the direct presidential election. In the past, the president was elected through the People's Consultative Assembly.
The series of elections began on April 5 for the legislative election followed by the first round of the presidential election on July 5.
Security was tight Monday with heavy presence of fully-armed security personnel at major roads in Denpasar, Kuta and Nusa Dua.
In the easternmost province of Papua, people began pouring into the polling stations at around 9 a.m. Local KPU chief La Pona said that people appeared less enthusiastic compared to the legislative election.
In East Java, home to the country's largest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), voters headed to the polling stations in an orderly manner, apparently not heeding an edict issued for NU followers refrain from voting.
In Pekanbaru, Riau and Kendari, West Nusa Tenggara, the election went off peacefully, but also with a relatively lower- than-expected voter turnout.
Riau KPU chief Raja Sofyan Samad said polling stations were not as crowded as they were during the first round.