'People cling to symbols, not ideas'

Today is the final day of the three-week campaigning period for the legislative elections. Starting tomorrow, the city should be clear of flags, posters or banners put up by the 24 competing political parties. The Jakarta Post talked to some residents on the effectiveness of party paraphernalia, which, many consider, leave the city looking an utter mess.

Aquino, 28, works for a non-governmental education organization, whose office is located in Mampang, South Jakarta. He lives in Pasar Minggu, also in South Jakarta:

If the political parties say that they're free of corruption, they should be able to clear up their campaign attributes such as posters and flags, or at least place them neatly so anyone can see how clean and neat their parties are.

The problem is, we Indonesians are not used to hearing programs offered by political parties. Therefore, the parties introduce themselves using symbols in their flags, posters and other printed materials, hoping that voters will remember the symbols at election time. That is why these attributes are practically everywhere.

Of course, we can't avoid this situation, but at least the government could allocate places for posters and flags, such as special billboards, where parties could stick their posters so the city would look neat.

Ismail Hasan, 27, works in sales and marketing for a private radio station in Central Jakarta. He lives in Serpong, Tangerang:

All this party paraphernalia has made the city look dirty, but it's a consequence we all have to bear because not all Indonesians can absorb more than simple, short messages that will remain in their memory.

It's kind of sad, though, if you look further. These political parties, or at least the campaigners, have taken advantage of their own poorly educated people. Instead of reaching out to voters, they prefer to bombard us with nothing more than symbols -- meaningless ones too.

--The Jakarta Post