Voters have ways to elect and punish their leaders

Voters have ways to elect and punish their leaders

Kornelius Purba, Jakarta

The middle-aged hospital worker hesitantly approached a
patient who just had undergone a bladder surgery. She looked
impressed with a bouquet the patient received from his old
friend. When there was no nurse in the room, the 'office girl'
could no longer resist temptation not to ask the patient,"You are
a legislative candidate, aren't you?"

She still insisted even after the patient said,"No". "But why
the government official sent you this beautiful flower?"

Then she had a big smile when she looked at his stomach,"You
have a big stomach. It means you are a government official. You
must have a very good income, and that is why your stomach is so
big like this." For her a stomach size has a correlation with
prosperity. After repeatedly apologized, the woman then said
corrupt officials often have bloated stomach.

The patient then asked the woman, who lost one of her upper
teeth, about her favorite presidential candidate. Without
hesitation she mentioned Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

When asked why, she teased,"He is handsome, and his stomach is
not like yours." For her, Susilo's flat stomach merely means he
is a clean politician.

The country will have its first direct presidential election
on July 5. Six pairs will contest the race. The election campaign
will be held in June, when candidates present their vision in
wooing voters. Many observers predict possible chaos because this
will be first experience for the nation and the supporters of the
six candidates might not be ready to accept the failure of their
idols.

But such a worry could be groundless. Nobody can underestimate
ordinary people's political maturity. It is not true that people
are not ready yet with the direct presidential election. People,
especially those living in Java, have been familiar with such a
system in electing their leaders, although in much lower level.

The system was much damaged during Soeharto's 32 year tenure,
but people in rural areas still run the system by electing their
lurah or (village head) directly. They master the art to exploit
the lurah candidates before the race as if they knew that the now
the elected leader will abuse them some day when the election was
over.

Presidential election basically has no much difference from
the lurah election.

For many Indonesians, the criteria for electing or rejecting a
presidential candidate often looks very simple but actually very
fundamental. People are not interested in the candidates'
political platforms or promises. All candidates of course promise
to bring prosperity, justice and democracy for the country.
Voters also do not want to spend their energy to challenge such a
commitment because -- experience teaches them -- it is much
better to ignore such promises.

The promises which will be conveyed during the presidential
election campaign next month will not likely be very different
from those made by the political parties before the April 5
legislative election.

It is not an exaggeration to say that SBY -- people often call
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by his acronym -- is likely the most
popular candidate compared to other five presidential candidates.

Many people can not answer when asked about the general's
achievement during his career. "He is humble and polite," is a
common answer about the reason to elect the general.

He won strong public sympathy when Taufik Kiemas, the husband
of the incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri, described the
general as 'childish' before Susilo resigned from the Cabinet in
March. He said the President had isolated him from the Cabinet.

Voters also have their own way to punish leaders who
disappointed them. They would not make extreme measures like
massive demonstrations. That was happened with Megawati, whose
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) won nearly 35
percent of votes five years ago. At that time Megawati was
regarded as a perfect symbol of Soeharto's oppression.

But what Megawati has done so far? She supported the
reelection of Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso as Jakarta governor and
other military governors despite their poor performance. She
fired party cadres who had different view with her about the
governor's policy.

Voters did not make public fuss. That is why Megawati was
overconfident. In April election her party won less than 20
percent votes.

"She just does not care with us," it is one of common
criticism against her.

Another presidential candidate is Amien Rais, chairman of the
National Mandate Party (PAN). Many brand him as one of the
country's most prominent reformist. But his party could not
perform better (in last April legislative election) compared to
the 1999 election. Why has PAN failed despite the official
support from the country's second largest Muslim organization
Muhammadiyah? Amien was former chairman of Muhammadiyah. Is it
because Amien is often perceived as inconsistent politician, who
can easily change his mind without strong reason?

Look at Soeharto's former party, Golkar. Only six years after
his fall, Golkar won most votes last month. Golkar nominated
former Soeharto's adjutant Gen. (ret) Wiranto for the
presidential race despite mounting allegations of human rights
abuses against the general. Would he win the race?

When a new party set up by Gen. (ret) R. Hartono nominated
Soeharto's daughter Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukmana as its
presidential nominee, many scholars warned the danger of her
election. But voters are not that stupid. Hartono's Concern for
the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) could only win two of the 550
legislative seats.
Kornelius Purba (purba@thejakartapost.com) is a staff writer of
The Jakarta Post.