Victory for all

Victory for all

From: Koran Tempo

The runoff on Sept. 20, between the Megawati-Hasyim and Susilo-Kalla tickets marked the completion of our first direct presidential election.

We Indonesians should feel glad to see these presidential elections have taken place peacefully, a fact indicating our political maturity. Indonesians can no longer be provoked by differences, competition and political conflicts involving the political elite. This is a solid cultural asset that we must use as a foundation for the consolidation of our democracy in future. Whoever will be elected president later must maintain and then improve this excellent political culture.

The two pairs taking part in the presidential runoff are sure to demonstrate their mature and democratic attitude towards the outcome of this presidential runoff. Even a day before ballot casting, President Megawati called on the whole nation to accept the outcome of the presidential runoff sincerely throw their support to whoever will be the winner.

The winner must remain humble and make his or her victory the victory of the entire nation. The loser must magnanimously accept defeat. Losing a political competition must be perceived as constructive criticism for a better performance in future. In no way must it be perceived as a disgrace.

In this way both the winner and the loser will do their utmost in forging the country's democracy. In short, both are in a sense winners as both work for the sake of this nation's progress, interest, and greater dignity.

YUDIMAN ARYANTO

Jakarta