The 1997 poll: A cultural event?

By Arief Budiman

SALATIGA, Central Java (JP): On May 29, Indonesia will have not one, but two general elections. The first one will be run by the government. The second one will be run by the people. Let me elaborate.

The first general election, the government-run general election, will pit three contestants in a race for legislative seats: Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). People are urged to participate in the election, to vote for one of the three. The government has repeatedly announced that would be to the people's advantage to participate in this election, that the election is their precious political right to have a say on how to best rule the country. The Indonesian constitution states voting is a right and not a duty, and therefore the government cannot punish people who do not cast votes. They have the right not to vote.

There is a real possibility that quite a substantial number of people will boycott this coming election. And here we arrive at the second type of election which is the people's election, joined especially by those who are dissatisfied with the situation.

While in the government-held election people vote for one of the three political parties, the second election would be like a referendum, a referendum to judge whether the general election is democratic or manipulated, acceptable or unacceptable. If people deem it democratic and acceptable, they will cast their ballots and vote for one of the three existing political parties, thus fulfilling what government's wish. If they think the election will be undemocratic and therefore unacceptable, they will refrain from voting and boycott the election. In Indonesian political jargon, it is said that these people vote for Golongan Putih (Golput, the White Group).

What is Golput? The movement to boycott general elections came about during the 1971 general election. The movement was organized by young people, mostly university students, who considered the newly created election regulations undemocratic. For instance, there was a regulation, which still exists today, that stated the number of political parties be limited by the government. If some people wanted to create a new political party, permission from the government had to be obtained. But permission was usually rejected. Also, civil servants had to vote for Golkar or face possible dismissal from their jobs. Candidates for the legislature had to pass screening by military intelligence, which declared whether they were "Pancasilaist" or not, a very loose term that makes it possible to reject candidates that were critical of the government. Rules such as these made it very difficult to expect an independent legislature not dominated by government supporters.

Some of these young people then decided to become Golput. They choose not to mark any of the symbols representing the three political parties, but marked the white margin of the ballot paper instead, rendering their votes invalid. This is the White Group, which has been present in every general election ever since.

The second type of election, the people's election, has also been called the Ola Elu election. The name came out of Yogyakarta during the 1992 election. At that time, the administration issued a regulation that put the non-Golkar parties at a disadvantage. PPP and PDI reacted by removing all their banners and putting up slogans saying aku ola elu, slang for the Javanese aku ora melu (I don't participate). Banners from the other two parties disappeared completely and all that were left were Golkar banners. As if these other parties were saying: "OK, it's all yours. I won't participate, aku ola elu." The government then spent a lot of time and energy to persuade the two parties to participate in general elections.

The possibility that people may join the Ola Elu group and declare themselves part of the Golput has increased following the recent sociopolitical developments in the country.

Since 1971, when the first general election under the New Order was conducted, there have been regulations that gave Golkar advantages as a government party. The most blatant one is that civil servants have to join Golkar. Moreover, the Armed Forces, an institution that is supposed to remain neutral, openly supports Golkar. President Soeharto is the chairman of the Golkar's board of directors. (When PDI, a few years ago, asked him to be the head of their board also, arguing that the President belongs to all people, they were turned down.) These regulations, with some others, are more than enough to make some people, especially the educated middle class, feel that the existing election is undemocratic, and so they may choose to boycott the election in protest. All these regulations are factors that have produced Golput followers up until now.

At present, however, there have been numerous new factors that may boost the number of Golput people. These new factors, among others, are:

First, after the removal of Megawati as PDI chairwoman and the attack on the party headquarters on July 27, 1996, many people came to believe that the government did a gross injustice to Megawati and her followers. Many people believe Megawati was removed because the government did not want to see her named as a presidential candidate to challenge Soeharto in the 1998 presidential election.

Megawati followers are unable to do much to fight this unjust intervention by the government except to boycott the general election. It seems very likely that this attitude has also been adopted by many sympathizers of Megawati outside PDI, in protest and in solidarity of the daughter of the nation's founding father, Sukarno. So there is an increasing possibility that many more people will join Golput.

Second, another factor is the blatant arrogance of some local government officials, as shown by the policies which have been carried out intensively in Central Java, such as "yellowization". As reported by the media, many public places (such as trees and traffic signs) in the big cities of Central Java have been painted yellow, the color of Golkar. Protests came especially from PPP, but to no avail. So they took the case into their own hands by repainting public utilities in their original colors. However the next day, the government, guarded by the police and military, repainted these places yellow again.

This act of protest by PPP has gained much sympathy from many people outside the party. The PPP branch in Surakarta has also indirectly threatened to boycott the election campaign in protest of some of the campaigning regulations set by the government. In other words, Golput has also emerged within the political parties participating in the election.

In the old days, about 10 percent of eligible voters did not cast votes, or for some reason made their ballots void. These people are considered as Golput and the percentage has been stable up to this time. (It also has to be noted that not all of the 10 percent are Golput followers in the true sense of the word, namely that not all of them consciously reject voting. Maybe many of them do not vote for other reasons, such as illness, absence, or they do not understand how to vote, etc.) Some agree that true Golput members primarily come from the educated middle class. However, after July 27 and the aggressive "yellowization" policy of the government in Central Java, a second type of Golput has entered the stage.

This second type of Golput is different from the first. They are not the educated middle class. They are predominantly lower class, ex-followers of the late president Sukarno, some are also Moslems. They are more numerous than the first type. Thus, it would be unsurprising if the number of Golput increased in the May 29 election.

It is then quite understandable if the government seems nervous in facing this election. The Armed Forces Chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Gen. Syarwan Hamid was quoted by the Indonesia Times as warning that any attempt "... to encourage people not to vote is against the law". The President himself has warned that he would "clobber" those who persuaded other people not to vote. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, leader of an unofficial opposition party, was arrested because he sent Idul Fitri cards to people, urging them to boycott the election. However, in major cities across Indonesia, there is graffiti and posters urging people to boycott the 1997 election. Even the Catholic church made a statement on Feb. 13, saying it would not be a sin to refuse to vote in this year's general election "if you really do not feel represented and are sure with all your heart that your aspirations are not being heard".

So, the Ola Elu election is coming and Golput numbers are increasing. However, it will not change anything politically. With the existing election rules, Golkar will still rule, the military will still be dominant in directing the country's political course, and many people speculate that Pak Harto will be reelected in 1998. The commotion of Golput, the Independent Election Monitoring Committee created by critical intellectuals, and other similar things are no more than a symbolic political battle, not a real one. As Cornelis Lay, a Gadjah Mada University lecturer, said recently, the May general election in Indonesia will be a cultural event, not a political one. It will not change anything politically, it will only be, as the government keeps on saying, a big festival of democracy. The festival is still more important than the democracy.

The writer is a sociologist and researcher based in Salatiga.