Students regard 'golput' as irresponsible

Students regard 'golput' as irresponsible

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The surprising results of the Atmajaya Catholic University's
survey of the enthusiasm of students toward the April 5
legislative election show that, contrary to public perception,
most university students in Greater Jakarta plan to vote on
Monday.

According to the survey titled Rapid Assessment: Stance and
Political Aspirations of Students and First-Time Voters Toward
the 2004 General Election, more than 80 percent of students will
vote. The students surveyed, who are all first-time voters,
regarded the attitude of golput people -- a term coined to
describe a group of people who refuse to vote for, or support any
political party -- as irresponsible.

Over 1,399 respondents of two state universities and seven
privately run universities in Greater Jakarta participated in the
survey.

"The political parties' platforms were a consideration for 52
percent of respondents in electing (a party)," Dhevvy Setya
Wibawa, a researcher at the university, said on Thursday at the
presentation of the results.

The respondents, half of whom are Muslims, tended to favor
political parties which are not ideologically based on religion
or a particular group, the survey found.

Sociologist Erry Seda, who moderated the presentation, said
that the survey overturned the common perception that most
students are golput.

The university had also conducted a survey on The Attitude of
the Business Community Toward the 2004 General Election,
involving 160 managers of 56 companies listed with the Jakarta
Stock Exchange and 104 non-listed companies.

The respondents were confident that the situation in the
country during the 2004 general election would be no worse than
that of the 1999 general election.

Meanwhile, when asked to state their biggest concern regarding
the elections, the respondents replied: "The most important
problems are legal certainty, bureaucratization, red tape and
regional autonomy."

The managers predicted that the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party would win the most votes,
although they also believed that the two parties were not capable
of improving the condition of the country.

The businesspeople had empathy for the newly established
Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which
they described as progressive parties.

Many surveys, including the one conducted by the Indonesian
Survey Institute (LSI), also predicted that Golkar and PDI-P,
would win the most votes.