Indonesia’s presidential public election

On 8th July, we were in rush this morning to go to my previous home as we were going to give our votes for this year presidential election. We have three pair of candidates, Megawati-Prabowo as no. 1, Bambang Yudhoyono-Budiono as no. 2 and the last one Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto as no. 3. This presidential election is much easier than the election for the members of house representative in May. In the previous one we had 4 different levels of house representatives, from 44 parties and each party had about 0 to 15 people that we had to choose. In that election, each paper that we had to give our mark was so huge. It took time to scan the 44 parties plus small alphabets of names of the candidates. Has not mentioned how some people sang “twinkle-twinkle little stars” to choose the party randomly.

With some problems occurred including the inaccuracy of DPT (list of people who give votes), the first step of public election was done. What Indonesia !! Some people who did not get enough votes to be elected had psychological problem. In an other word they became mad !. Some of them went to hospitals for mental illness. Some went to the “traditional medicine man”. Some of them even committed suicide. Why ? Because they had spent so much money to make people vote for them. For rich people things were not that bad but some of them were drawn in a huge debt. A gift considered as a donation previously, suddenly being withdrawn as there was not enough votes given by the people who received the gift. There was also a guy who closed down the main road into his own village, as he was so disappointed to the villagers for not electing him. People just lose their mind !

Today we have to choose our president. All candidates have been through a tiring campaign for a month. From indoor campaign, outdoor campaign, all giant posters along the roads, TV advertisements, debates on TV (This is a new one. We never had it before). Every candidate tried to reach the lowest level people in our society. That’s why traditional markets became favorite sites to be visited. The no. 1 tried to prove that they pro to common people. They signed so many agreements with different groups of communities. And ready to be sued if they can not fulfill their promises. No 2 emphasized the personal attraction of SBY (at the moment he is still our president). How good looking he is (I totally disagree with this!), how he is a good father, a very polite guy, a smart guy with PhD title on his name. No 3 tried to prove that they are hard workers. And they will make Indonesia capable to develop independently. This afternoon, every TV channel does what we call a quick count. A small survey that will picture what we are going to have as the result. No 2, so far, wins. In my opinion, people just lose their mind !

Why do I say this ? I saw from the presidential debates, other candidates gave a better statements and answers than no. 2. More rational and able to cover an abstract system with real examples on the field. Everyone knew that the vice president at the moment who did more work than he is – no 3 candidate is the vice president. The president appears so often on TV in many ceremonial events. If you have miss universe or Indonesian idols, our president appears more often than them. The way he presents himself is not genuine. This is what we call “jaim” – he controls the way he speaks, the way he moves, to controlling his image as a nice, polite, and a good looking guy. Gosh, I got stomach problem every time I see him. But in fact, people are hypnotized by this. Have not mentioning how many promises he gave during the presidential election in 2004 that have not been fulfilled yet. I got headache now !

Seeing what happened during the election of house representatives and now the presidential election, it is obvious that most of Indonesian people are communities who are not rational enough. I do not say irrational ! This is a different issue !. Without detail calculation of possibility to be elected, people just put their names in for the election of house representative. No wonder they become mad after losing the election. People also elect president who has a better appearance, not because he has better programs and actions. Some Indonesians are still the traditional voters, means they prefer to have a male president than a lady one. No. 1 candidate is a lady. I had a conversation with a friend in Bogor mentioning that his big family will never elect a woman as president because in Moslem world there is no woman leader. Indonesian majority is Moslem. I said “no way”. There are too many examples that women are good leaders, but still, this is their view. I’m wondering if one of their daughters goes for the election, I’m sure they will change their mind.

All Quick counts say no 2 win. He already gave his statement – though I think this is too early and too confident because it requires formal statement from appointed body who runs the election, mentioning that he is the winner. I frankly prefer other candidates for a better Indonesia. I don’t think he will win the election that easily. There are many problems occurred during the presidential election such as the DPT problem, some people vote more than once, etc. We’ll see how other candidates do about this. Tonight the no. 2 candidate will be interviewed in many TV channels. I might spend time just reading my books and prepare some stomach medicine if I need it.