Will my mom's last election turn out to be just and fair?

Will my mom's last election turn out to be just and fair?

JAKARTA (JP): I was just leaving my house when I saw my
mother's car pull up. Now, you may have the most important
appointment, but when your mother arrives unannounced, you must
pretend that the appointment is not important after all, because
what can be more important than a 98-year-old mother?

After all, when you have lived from the very beginning of this
century to the last year of that same century, you are the most
very important person. And this time she came for something very,
very important: the general election.

Once she got out of the car, she waved to me vehemently with a
poster, which turned out to be a poster of the symbols of the 48
parties.

"Look," she said triumphantly, "they are now sold by street
vendors, the symbols of the parties! Not expensive at all, only
Rp 1,000!"

Only Rp 1,000? Yesterday a boy offered one to me for Rp 4,000.
Oh, oh, my mother must have been bargaining again! I was quite
right, mother confessed to me that she had bargained down from Rp
4,000 to Rp 1,000.

"But what do you want it for?" I asked, "do you intend to
decorate your house with these symbols?"

No, she bought it so she could have a close look at all the
symbols and to make her choice.

"I want to be prepared for the elections," she said
resolutely. Before, we always had only three parties, so it was
not difficult for me, but now with 48 of them we must make a
proper choice. After all, this may be my last general election,
so I must make my last choice a good one. I will choose a party
that will bring an end to the monetary crisis, the violence, the
corruption or what they call KKN. So I came to consult you about
what party could fulfill my ideals!"

"Mother!" I exclaimed, "I admire you, that you at your age you
still show interest in the right to vote and do it
conscientiously. You have never been to school, you learned to
read and write from a tutor at home, but at this moment you beat
all the women in the world. You should have joined the
suffragists when you were young!"

"Rubbish," she said, if I had joined the suffragists you and
all your sisters would not have been born. What man wanted to
marry women who were standing up for their rights at that time?
None, they only wanted wives who could cook and sew and would
stay at home to care for the children. However, it is thanks to
the suffragists that we women are now allowed to vote. In all, I
voted in all seven elections, I have never missed a single one!
But now back to my question, which party is the best according to
you?"

I had to confess that I had not made up my mind yet. And
besides, she had to make her own choice and not depend on me. And
that was exactly what she came for, to show me that she did not
want me to tell her for which one to vote, she only wanted some
information about the parties. Her biggest concern she told me
was Medicare for the elderly. Is there a party that will ensure
that the elderly get social welfare and health insurance? I
couldn't answer and many other questions followed which I
couldn't answer either.

She then asked me her last question: "You are not leaving, are
you? I mean like those people who are joining the exodus before
the elections?"

I assured her that I had no such intention and she packed up
her poster and prepared to leave, while telling me that I had
told her at least one piece of good news.

A few days later I met my sister, who told me that she had
good news and bad news.

"The bad news is that mother is disappointed in her daughters,
including you. She said that we were all getting old. The good
news is that she now knows for who to vote. For that she had to
rely on the younger generation.

"Well, her favorite grandson Panji seems to have joined a
political party and that was enough for her to make her decision.
She is now convinced that his party is the best and she will vote
for his party, especially because he told her, that if they win,
he will make sure that her proposal for Medicare for the elderly
will be taken care off. And what is more, she is now making her
rounds again to convince everybody in the family that his party
is the only one to vote for."

And I thought she wanted to have an election that is just and
fair!

-- Myra Sidharta