The right to vote

The right to vote

From Koran Tempo

The 2004 general election is still one and a half years away
and the electoral law is still under discussion at the House of
Representatives.

Every citizen enjoys the right to vote for one of the 237
political parties in this country. It is also a citizen's right
not to vote for any of these political parties, or in other
words, to put himself or herself in the category of the "White
Group" (so called because the citizen, instead of voting for a
particular political party by marking the appropriate symbol of
the party on the ballot paper, simply marks his/her choice on the
plain part of the ballot paper).

It is regrettable that some citizens fail to exercise their
right in elections. Some say people in this "White Group" lack
self-confidence.

The "White Group" is now an interesting topic of discussion as
it is still polemical in nature. Some say that if a citizen
persuades another citizen to refrain from exercising his/her
right in a general election, a sanction will be imposed. Others
believe that it is the right of every Indonesian citizen to
exercise or not to exercise this right.

A final decision has yet to be made concerning this matter
because the political parties represented in the House have their
own interests to pursue.

I believe that it is purely a citizen's right to exercise or
not to exercise his/her right to vote for a political party in a
general election. No sanctions, therefore, should be imposed on
those deciding not to exercise this right. As Indonesians are now
learning to practice democracy, every citizen is expected to
exercise this right as best they can. However, all this must be
left up to every citizen at election time.

SRI WULANDARI, Depok, West Java