What is the election really about?

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.