What is the election really about?

President Soeharto has rejected critics who said that the upcoming general election was just a formality to maintain the status quo. Political scientist J. Soedjati Djiwandono of the Centre for International and Strategic Studies examines the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): To strive for democratization is to work for greater equality, justice, freedom and openness. As an ideal, which is accepted as having universal validity, democracy is a demand for recognition of, and respect for these values or principles.

Not everybody is naturally conscious of them, however. To some people such values often look like alien concepts. There is, for example, no exact equivalent in the Javanese language for the English word "free". But it is unfair and dishonest for people to be ignorant of their democratic rights, even if they seem happy all the same.

The coming general election will be the seventh in the history of the Indonesian Republic and the sixth under the New Order for the past 30 years. But it is doubted that the majority of people really know what they are doing when they cast their votes on May 29, what to expect, and what their participation really means. The high turnout has little to do with the degree of political consciousness on the part of the people.

It has been stated recently that the election on May 29 is not a mere formality and not a ploy by the government "to maintain the status quo". Yet considering the current situation, who is likely to be elected president the next time around seems to be a foregone conclusion.

This may account for the focus of the current debate on the future vice president, rather than on the future president, whose role will be the most decisive in Indonesian politics. Never before has so much importance been attached to the role and position of the vice president.

Speculating openly on the various candidates for vice president seems to be "safer" and less "unethical" than those for president. This is particularly true while the incumbent is alive and well, and most important of all, not indicating his intention of ever stepping down.

But it would be good for our future democracy, if well before polling day, each of the three contesting political parties should make clear to the voters their commitment to nominating their respective candidates, not only for vice president, but more particularly for president. Then the people would know what to expect from the election, whether it would preserve the status quo, bring about change or result in political reform. They will then cast their votes accordingly or abstain from voting at all. Otherwise, as the practice until now, their votes would practically amount to no more than a carte blanche.

The phenomenon, however, may reveal something else no less interesting: the fear of freedom and openness. If this is true, then "democratic freedom" is an alien concept to many of our people, including our politicians. They are not used to the idea and therefore are not sure how to enjoy and exercise it. Ironical and contradictory though it may seem, one should not fear what one demands.

It has been reported that chairman of the Moslem oriented United Development Party (PPP) has considered running for the office of vice president. This phenomenon would mean progress for Indonesian democracy, unless he should withdraw under pressure as did his predecessor, John Naro, in 1988. To ensure progress, one must dare to challenge what may be regarded by many, including some academics, as an established "tradition".

A similar step should be initiated for the office of the president. It is hoped no one would exploit ill-defined "Indonesian cultural values" and use this as an excuse to oppose such a step. Nor should anyone argue that the people are "not ready" for such an exercise in democracy. Did we believe it when our colonial masters told us we were "not ready for independence?"

Every tradition begins somewhere. It is no credit to this nation that there has been no change over an entire generation of 30 years. The election is an exercise in the practice of democracy not only for the common people. Political leaders also have their own part to play. To learn to swim, we all must plunge into the water.