People eager for presidential election
People eager for presidential election
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Regardless of the public's suspicion that campaign promises
are made to be broken, Monday's legislative election was marked
by the high turnout of voters. Some international media hailed
the election, which was contested by 24 parties, as peaceful,
despite its logistical shortcomings.
If people have no faith in the candidates, what compelled them
to vote? Why were polling stations so highly attended when many
voters say that they don't expect much from the results?
Indonesia is not alone in facing public cynicism toward
politics but while other countries, which have a strong tradition
of democracy, face the same problem, their elections are poorly
attended.
Mochtar Pabottingi, a political analyst at the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said people showed enthusiasm toward
the legislative election and hoped that their votes would bring
about change.
The July 5 direct presidential election would also attract
voters' interest, he said.
"The people's (optimistic) mood will likely remain ahead of
the presidential election. They will vote for dedicated and clean
presidential candidates. Such a condition is good for democracy,"
he said.
He predicted that presidential candidates from major parties
would face a serious rival in Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, the cofounder of the Democratic Party.
Susilo's party had earlier claimed that it would get
surprising results, perhaps because many people want him to run
for president.
Pramono Anung Wibowo, deputy secretary-general of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) conceded on
Tuesday that many voters had lost faith in the electoral process.
"We will accept the results as the people's choice... We will
be introspective and conduct an evaluation if the party does not
perform as expected," he said.
How about the voters?
Residents of Pondok Cabe Udik in Pamulang, Tangerang, said
that they went to polling stations in the village to elect the
parties who would support their favorite politicians as
presidential candidates.
"Otherwise, ruling parties will remain in power," said Djoko
Lelono who defended the decision of some of his neighbors to
abstain from voting.
Christina Susilowati, an employee of a private bank, hailed
the election result in the village that gave a rather equal
victory to the Democratic Party and the Muslim-oriented
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), saying that the two new parties
were expected to fulfill their promises.
"Many people are not enthusiastic about the elections because
of the government's poor performance. But, we have to use our
constitutional right to a clean and strong government," she said.