Tip of the iceberg?

Tip of the iceberg?

Young grassroots supporters, including party guards, of the
country's two most influential political parties -- the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) and the
Golkar Party -- clashed recently in the regency of Buleleng,
Bali, leaving two persons dead.

The irony was that they came there for the same purpose; to
commemorate the lofty ideals of Youth Pledge Day, Oct. 28. Nobody
was supposed to start the election campaign so early but
apparently they could not control their political emotions. No
campaign slogans and no party banners were permitted but they
broke their promises when they saw how enthusiastic were their
opponents in their show-of-force parade.

The young party supporters went for each other simply because
mentally they are ill-prepared for democracy. And the blame must
be laid primarily on the shoulders of the political leaderships
in their respective headquarters.
The Buleleng affair is a good example of political negligence in
democratic education on the part of party leaderships.

There are now grounds to fear that the accidental encounter of
the two groups of party supporters in Bali was just the tip of
the iceberg.

The next "festival of democracy", as some people like to refer
to general elections in our country, may turn out not to be an
exercise in democracy but rather another "experiment" in
democracy.

The huge budget and the big fanfare, the setting up of
election committees and watchdogs, are not likely to drive off
the dark clouds chasing each other across the sky.

Already the beating drums are clearly being heard, and more
than fifty party symbols will shortly produce even more confusion
in the minds of the electorate, who are still waiting for an
improvement in their basic rights and welfare.

GANDHI SUKARDI
Jakarta