Vote and be counted

It's decision time. Today is the final round of the presidential election. For the first time since we declared independence in 1945, the people of this country have the opportunity to decide directly who will lead us for the next five years.

If we believe the fate of the country depends to a large extent on its leaders, then this is an unprecedented opportunity for us to determine our own destiny, or at the very least, the direction in which the country will head. Our participation in the election, and therefore our vote, has never been more important.

This is a big step for Indonesia, which for the last six years has been making a conscious effort to build the nation upon more democratic principles after enduring over three decades of tyrannical rule. It has certainly been a hard struggle, but there has been a national consensus that direct presidential elections will ensure real sovereignty lies fully in the hands of the people, as enshrined in the 1945 Constitution.

Not that there is anything wrong with indirect elections, which are found in many other democracies, including the United States. But Indonesia's own experience with entrusting the presidential election to the People's Consultative Assembly has been bitter. Sukarno and Soeharto, our first two presidents, circumvented the system and virtually controlled the Assembly, and thus its decisions, rather than the other way around.

A direct election would hopefully ensure a closer emotional connection between the people and the elected president. The president, in turn, would feel, or certainly should feel, that she or he is accountable to the people, an element that was definitely missing during the Sukarno and Soeharto years.

This direct system also puts the president more or less on equal footing with the legislative bodies, which have been given immense power following a series of constitutional amendments these last six years. After the nation's failure to secure credible leaders through indirect elections, the direct method of electing our president and vice president is worth experimenting with.

Granted, a direct election does not guarantee the leaders Indonesia desperately needs will be elected, any more than an indirect election does. This is true at least for this particular election, which pits the incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri against her former security czar, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. For many people, this is not much of a choice.

Hard as they have tried to separate themselves, there is not all that much of a difference between the two candidates. Both were raised politically during the Soeharto years: Megawati served in the House of Representatives in the 1980s and 1990s, and Susilo served in various capacities in Soeharto's Army. In addition, Susilo was one of Megawati's lieutenants until earlier this year.

While one candidate claims to represent continuity and the other tries to project change, Megawati and Susilo could equally make either of these claims. But these are the two candidates that passed through the election system, which is still heavily controlled by the political parties. While voters may have the last say, the major political parties control the nomination process. So, today we are stuck with these two candidates, and one of them is going to be president for the next five years.

Even with its shortcomings, however, this is still an election worth participating in, because every single vote matters. In the first round of the presidential election in July, in which five candidates ran, those people who voted for the eventual losers may have felt that their votes were wasted. Today, with only two candidates running, no vote will be squandered. A vote for one candidate can equally be seen as a vote against the other candidate.

If you dislike both candidates, you can still vote against the candidate you like the least, or dislike the most. You do not need to feel responsibility for the eventual winner: you did not vote for her or him, but rather you voted against the other candidate.

If for some reason you decide not to vote, which is a right guaranteed by the law, your voice will not matter at all and you will not make any difference in the eventual outcome.

Ultimately, it is your decision to vote or not to vote, and to vote for which candidate. In spite of all the public endorsements of the candidates, some with tinges of intimidation, this is a secret ballot that guarantees that you can, and should, vote according to your conscience. So vote and be counted.