Vote-getters not needed, political scholars say

Vote-getters not needed, political scholars say

SEMARANG (JP): Political scholars said yesterday that the
recruitment of celebrities as vote-getters in next year's general
election is an outdated trick to attract voters.

They said that vote-getters are effective only in uneducated
communities because on campuses and in the cities people know
they need politicians who can really defend their interests.

Riswandha Imawan, a political scholar from Gadjah Mada
University, said that the use of vote-getters is a trick that
tends to deceive the public.

The idea of recruiting vote-getters, he said, is to have
celebrities use their popularity rather than their political
skill to attract as many people as possible to vote for the party
they represent.

"Political studies should stop using vote-getters because it
assumes that people do not have enough of a grasp of the
political games in Indonesia," Riswandha said.

"As Indonesians are increasingly educated, the vote-getting
system should be stopped," he said.

The three political organizations: Golkar, the United
Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI), will compete for 425 seats in the House of Representatives
in next year's general election.

While the PDI and PPP do not have well-known figures in their
front lines, Golkar made headlines for recruiting king of dangdut
music Rhoma Irama, soap opera star Rano Karno and shadow puppet
master Ki Anom Suroto -- to name a few -- to attract voters.

Golkar hopes to increase its domination in the House from its
current 282 seats to at least 299. It wants to recapture the 16
seats it lost to the PDI and one to the PPP in the 1992 election.

Golkar has promised the much coveted seats to the popular
personalities.

"Educated people will certainly ask why political
organizations put celebrities higher on their list of prospective
House members than professional politicians," said political
observer Susilo Utomo from Diponegoro University.

"If it later turns out that the celebrities fail to defend the
public's interests as they promise during election campaigns,
people will feel cheated," he added.

MT Arifin, rector of Surakarta Muhammadiyah University, has
proposed that political organizations stop recruiting vote-
getters because their political ability is questionable.

He argued that those representing the people in the House
should be people who are well-versed in politics and have the
courage to defend average people, not just their peers.

"The vote-getting system should be stopped if Indonesia wants
to see democracy flourish," he said. (har/pan)