Use your vote

Use your vote

Despite grievous problems in the procurement and distribution
of election requirements by the General Elections Commission
(KPU) and the flawed registration of voters by the Central
Statistics Agency (BPS), about 147 million voters will today
(Monday) go to nearly 600,000 polling stations throughout the
country.

For many Indonesians, voting is not only a political right.
They also go to the polling stations to fulfill their perceived
responsibility to society, or at least to their neighborhoods. In
a hangover from the nation's authoritarian past, many feel uneasy
if they are asked by their neighbors why they did not vote.

Voting day has become a quinquennial event in society. That is
one of the reasons why voter turnouts are usually high in the
country regardless of whether voters really use their right to
vote or deliberately decide to spoil their ballots.

Today's legislative elections are part of an at least two-
round electoral process. On July 5, the country will hold its
first direct presidential election, and if no candidate wins a
simple majority then a runoff will be held on Sept. 20. In
October, a new government is expected to be in place.

It is indeed regrettable that there are so many people who
cannot exercise their constitutional right to vote in this
legislative election, either because they were not registered by
the BPS, or because they failed to receive their voter cards
because of administrative flaws in the KPU administration.

During the 22-day legislative election campaign, which ended
on April 1, the public generally tended to be indifferent to the
promises made by the 24 political parties and the candidates for
the Regional Representatives Council (DPD). The very slow
progress achieved by the administration of Abdurrahman Wahid, who
governed the country for nearly two years from October 1999, and
the administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri, who replaced
Abdurrahman in July 2001, has truly disappointed many people.

Voters will cast their ballots against a gloomy backdrop of a
slow-growing economy, continually increasing unemployment, and
worsening corruption and ineffectuality in law enforcement.
Naturally many voters distrust, or at the very least have little
confidence in, the 24 political parties and their legislative
candidates at the national, provincial and regental/municipal
levels.

Despite all the discouraging signs, we must nevertheless
remember that Indonesia is now at a critical stage of confirming
its newly won position as the world's third largest democracy
after India and the United States.

The international community is also closely watching us due to
this country's position as the world's most populous, majority
Muslim nation. There are major doubts, especially among western
countries, about whether a predominantly Muslim country can also
adopt universally accepted democratic values.

Indonesia now has the task of proving that Islam is not a
barrier, and could even be an advantage, in achieving full and
real democracy. And we also need to remind the international
community that whatever the voters decide about the future
direction of the country, it will be a final decision by the
people as the ultimate stakeholders.

Therefore, we call on the nation's voters to go to the polling
stations today. The future of the country will be greatly
determined by their decision in these elections. Voting in
Indonesia is not an obligation like in Australia, but a right.
However pessimistic voters are about the country's situation,
this election is still of the utmost importance for the country's
future direction.

People are free to vote or not to vote. But those who refuse
to use their right to vote may be perceived as having less
credibility in complaining about the future government or the
course of the state. Some say that abstaining or spoiling one's
ballot is an irresponsible act, especially if those who do so
continue to criticize the public's choice of leaders. Worse, the
failure to vote could even benefit those political parties that
are often described as "rotten" as it would mean less votes for
the newer, rival parties.

Let us use our constitutional right to vote, through which we
can punish the parties that have disappointed the nation and give
a chance to those parties that we still believe can improve the
lot of the country regardless of how small their chances. Despite
all the gloom surrounding us, we still have a chance to end the
country's prolonged economic and political catastrophe by
exercising our right to vote.

We have strong grounds for being optimistic that the elections
will pass off in a peaceful and orderly manner as the 22-day
campaign period was in general also peaceful and orderly.

Let us go the polls and follow our consciences in deciding to
which parties and candidates we will entrust the sacred mandate
to govern.