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