Happy Presidential Election Day for all Indonesians

Selamat PilPres (Pemilihan Presiden) for all Indonesians the world over. The Indonesians are having their second direct presidential election today. But seriously I don't envy their choices. Granted that the voting ballot this time around is not as unwieldy and convoluted as the one in the recent legislative election but the choices are almost unpalatable.

Today Indonesians get to choose their President and Vice President from a list of three pairs of candidates: the incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and his running mate Boediono (the former governor of Bank Indonesia); Megawati Sukarnoputri (former President and the daughter of Bung Karno, father of Indonesian independence) and her running mate Prabowo Subianto (former head of the military's Special Forces or Kopassus and the son in-law of former President Suharto); and Jusuf Kalla (SBY's former Vice President and one of the richest men in Indonesia) and his running mate Wiranto (former head of the Indonesian army).

Why are these choices unsavory? Megawati is simply inept, weak, clueless, and uninspiring. She had her chances at doing something when she was the President from 2001 until 2004 but she didn't accomplish squat. Her running mate, Prabowo, was part of the anti-democratic forces that tried to squash the Reformasi movement in 1998 by engaging in, among others, kidnapping and killing student activists by his Kopassus thugs. Jusuf Kalla is a megalomaniacal rich man who has nothing better to spend his money on and his running mate, Wiranto, should instead be tried for crimes against humanity for his responsibility in East Timor massacre in 1999. The lesser of six evils is the SBY-Boediono pair. SBY hasn't been that spectacular in his first term except for some success in fighting corruption in the government. Also SBY is a smart guy who is finishing up his doctoral dissertation from an Australian university. And his pick of Boediono is timely and spot-on because of the current global economic crisis since Boediono is an American-trained economist who has a good handle on the nitty-gritty details of the economy.

I bet all my chips for SBY-Boediono to win in the first round. By the way, if no pair gets 51 percent or more in the first round, the top two vote-getters will go to a run-off round, which I don't think will happen due to the popularity of the incumbent (as indicated by the big win of his party, Partai Demokrat, in the recent legislative election) and the much fewer number of choices in this election. One thing all the candidates are good at is coming up with the catchy nickname for their pairs: SBY BERBUDI (SBY-Boediono), MEGA-PRO (Megawati-Prabowo), and JK-WIN (Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto). At least they all get the importance of marketing in retail politics.

Anyway, about 176 million registered voters will ideally cast their votes today in more than 451,000 polling booths across the archipelago from Sabang to Merauke. All the best to you and I hope you do make the right choice. Just remember, people who forget history are doomed to repeat it!

The Unholy Alliance

It's now confirmed that the current Indonesian VP, Jusuf Kalla (JK), will be contesting for the presidential election in July as the Golkar candidate with the retired General Wiranto as his running mate from the Hanura party. This is the guy who announced as recently as last year that he would remain loyal to the current president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and would continue to serve the country in his role as Wapres (wakil presiden). I remember the opposing faction in Golkar pushing for the presidential candidancy of another veteran politician, Akhbar Tandjung, but to no avail. Well, I guess in the end the lure of more power is simply too irresistible for Pak JK, who is arguably one of the richest men in Indonesia and definitely the richest person in his home island of Sulawesi.

What led to his falling out with SBY and the pursuance of his own personal ambition to be the president? One reason could be that he no longer sees a prominent role for himself in SBY's second term - assuming that SBY wins the July election, which is very likely. SBY and his political vehicle, Partai Demokrat (PD), were weak back in 2004 when PD only won about 7 percent of the legislative votes despite winning the presidency on the back of SBY's popularity. SBY and PD needed JK and the legislatively-strong Golkar for political support and to fend off challenges from other opposing parties such as PDI-P and others. For the past five years JK saw himself as a very influential VP as SBY began to rely on his Golkar faction in the parliament (DPR) to pass various legislations. But also at the same time, PD has built a strong party structure nation-wide that feeds off the popularity of the president, which ultimately bears fruit when the party's more than tripling its electoral win to over 20 percent in the recent legislative elections. PD is no longer the weakling party in the DPR as it once was; it's now a major player that gets to decide the future of Indonesian politics. JK and Golkar have now become somewhat irrelevant in the grander scheme of things. Sensing the imminence of his severely diminishing influence in SBY's second term, JK made an abrupt about-face and quickly announced his intention to challenge in the upcoming presidential election.

Anyway, this quote from Jusuf Kalla in MalaysiaKini really cracks me up in its sheer absurdity: "The businessman or military experiences can be used in creating a civil society of a nation, he (Jusuf Kalla) added, without giving any details on the pair's intentions regarding policy."

Okay, first of all, big businesses and the military are NOT known to be the catalyst for civil society. Just read up on modern political history of the world and see which social forces are the MOST anti-democratic and NON-civil: right, the big businesses and the military! They often work hand-in-glove to overthrow popularly-elected democratic governments that go against their narrow self-interested agenda. So, Mister President wannabe, civil society can be many things but certainly not the way you envision it. Just say that you want to be the president because you are power-mad but don't use civil society as your lame excuse. I guess this sort of statement is to be expected when a used car salesman (albeit a very rich one) teams up with a washed-up war criminal in the quest for the highest seat of power in the country.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

One of the basics I learned in my Political Science classes is that in a legitimate democratic system, losers in an election accept defeat graciously and will have the chance to lawfully compete again in the next election cycle without resorting to any anti-democratic maneuvers such as coup d'etat, putsch and others. Accepting defeat is very hard especially when the candidates are heavily invested in the campaign, emotionally and financially.

For as long as I've lived in the US I've never heard any story of political candidates who went bonkers after losing elections. Nor have I heard stories where losing candidates committed suicide or simply died from exhaustion. Who knows? Maybe there are but they're not covered by the media. So I find it interesting that Indonesia, in her 3rd democratic election, has a bunch of political candidates who just went off the deep end after losing the election.

The above YouTube video is a Metro TV news clip (in Bahasa Indonesia) about candidates in the recent Indonesian legislative election who refused to accept the brutal reality of their defeats. Also, here are a couple of articles in the Jakarta Post about candidates who died after the election: One candidate in Bali died from extreme exhaustion and another committed suicide in West Java after losing.

It then begs the question what do these deaths and craziness of candidates mean to the quality of democracy in Indonesia? I can venture a few postulations but they'll have to wait for another posting. In the mean time, do ponder...

Pemilihan Umum 2009

Happy Election Day for all Indonesians! I always get super excited during elections, and especially for a young democracy like Indonesia. This legislative election will be Indonesia's third election since the downfall of the Suharto's New Order regime in May 21, 1998. I hope that the elections will be uneventful and transparent with minimal fraud and violence. Rest assured that I'll be keeping a close watch on the election returns as they come in. Taking into consideration Indonesia's vast population and disparate geography, it'll be awhile before all the votes are counted, especially the ones from the Outer islands i.e. outside of Java.

By the way, look at the size of the ballot! Boy, I've never seen one that huge in my life before. But it does look pretty sleek, though a bit unwieldy. The most important thing is that it's a secret ballot and nobody except you and God know who you voted for.

Way to go, Indonesia!!

Election Fever...

Both Malaysia and Indonesia are heading into election day in less than a week. It's a much bigger election in Indonesia for sure but the ones in Malaysia are no less important. The April 9th election in Indonesia is for the legislative level, while the presidential election is set to be on July 5th. In Malaysia, there are three by-elections on April 7th in Bukit Gantang (Perak), Bukit Selambau (Kedah) and Batang Ai (Sarawak) to replace previous MPs who passed away recently.

One thing that bothers me about the Indonesian election is the same old politicians who run in every election. When do people like Megawati and Gus Dur finally feel the need to let go and pass the torch to young leaders of their parties? I'd very much like to see the major political parties introduce young blood into the political process, instead of the tired old geriatric leaders. I guess that's what makes me attracted to Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS, Justice & Prosperity Party) since it's a relatively new party full with highly-motivated young cadres with a tangible political platform to sell the public. By the way, this is just based from my casual observation in the province of South Kalimantan, where I had lived for a year. I had been to PKS's provincial office in Kal-Sel twice and I was completely impressed with its level of operations and attention to every political details. I've volunteered in many political campaigns in the US and what I observed at the PKS office in Kal-Sel was on-par with some of the big campaigns in the US in terms of organization, efficiency and sensitivity to local voters and their needs. I was simply blown away! I also went to other parties' offices like PDI-P, Partai Demokrat, Golkar, PAN, PKB, PBB and others, but they simply pale in comparison with PKS when it comes to political professionalism. Plus, PKS gave me a lot of cool stuffs like DVDs, booklets, and several nice polo shirts for free while other parties wanted me to pay for their stuffs! By the way, I collect political memorabilia, and yes, I'm such a dork!

Also, what's amazing about this upcoming Indo election is the reincarnation of the anti-Reformasi figure, Prabowo Subianto and his Gerindra (Gerakan Indonesia Raya) party into a major political force. This is the guy, who only in May 1998, was hell-bent on preventing the downfall of his father in-law Suharto and stopping the wave of democratization that was sweeping the nation at the time. As the head of the elite Kopassus (Special Command Force), Prabowo was responsible for the kidnapping and killing of student activists during the mass demonstrations in May 1998. I guess that's the beauty (or the dark-side) of the democratic system for allowing someone like Prabowo to compete legally in the free and open political arena, as sickening as it is. People tend to forget and forgive rather easily, and with enough money, crooks like Prabowo can buy back his past and stage a political comeback, instead of languishing in the Cipinang prison! And let's not forget about Wiranto and his present Hanura party, whose hands are still bloodied from the deaths and suffering of the East Timorese in 1999 referendum. He should be tried for crimes against humanity, rather than be allowed to engage in the political process.

Another aspect of the upcoming Indonesian election is the high number of celebrity candidates. Being a young democracy, its political culture is more personality-based than agenda-based, and instead of offering concrete solutions to solve the social problems, political parties expect people to vote based on the popularity of the candidates. I think this is just the way for political parties to avoid talking about the social problems and wanting to amass cheap votes. To some extent this strategy is understandable especially when there are dozens of other political parties competing and having somebody famous as candidates certainly helps with the name-recognition and party visibility on the ballot. But this strategy should only be pursued in addition to a clear and substantive party platform, which takes precedence over all else. A political party must have a clear and concrete agenda to offer to the voting public, and not just celebrity candidates. Otherwise, it ceases to become a political party and turns into a cult.

As for the Malaysian by-elections on April 7th, the three elections will not be as easy for the Opposition as its two recent by-election wins in Permatang Pauh (Kedah) and Kuala Trengganu. PAS's candidate, Nizar Jamaludin, will win handily in Bukit Gantang and but the two other by-elections still remain a toss-up. With the BN's political and financial machinery in full force, one can expect these elections to be close and very dirty, especially in the rural Batang Ai district. God knows how many millions of Ringgit BN plans to spend on these elections, especially for the so-called "development projects." The Bukit Gantang by-election in Perak is especially important as it serves as a referendum to the popularity of the Opposition-led state government or the illegally-installed UMNO-led one, and by association, the newly sworn-in PM, Najib Tun Razak. I think the Batang Ai district will remain in BN's hands as its component parties in Sarawak will deliver the votes as usual. Lest we forget it was the BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak that saved BN's ass in Semenanjung in the March 2008 general election. As for Bukit Selambau by-election in Kedah, I hope that the Opposition's strategy of not selecting Hindraf's (Hindu-rights organization) preferred candidate and instead chose an Indian candidate with less race-focused agenda will succeed. It'll turn out to be a very competitive by-election especially when there are 15 candidates contesting for the seat.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the elections in both countries will be held peacefully with minimal violence and fraud, which is a good stepping stone towards the deepening of democracy. And of course, in the Malaysian case, I'm hoping for the Opposition (Pakatan Rakyat) to win in all three by-elections.

Suharto: Part Deux

While Suharto certainly deserved the bullet-pocked and blood-soaked legacy of his extraordinarily long stay in power, there are still a lot of mixed feelings among the public about what he has done over the past few decades. It's not that I've never been aware of this paradox; only that this dissonance was displayed with such simplicity by one of my students this morning. Despite of not being allowed neither possession of electronics nor access to TV, most of my students were well-informed of Suharto's death when I entered their class this morning. I used my usual 5-minute warm-up chat before lesson to ask their opinions about Suharto and what they think about him and his legacy. Quite a few said that they actually shed tears of joy when they heard the news. One student, on the contrary, mentioned that he was sad and sort of missed the good old pre-Reformasi days. When I asked him why, he replied, "because Mister, when Suharto was President, the price of a packet of IndoMie was Rp250, and now it's Rp1,000."

The gist of it is that life was perceivably much easier under Suharto, and the student's sentiment is shared by many other Indonesians. But was life really all bed of roses during the New Order era? And if it was, does Suharto deserve all the credit? Historical and economic factors played vital roles in contributing to Indonesia's fast-growing economy at this time. First, the huge influx of foreign investment (read: Western anti-communist countries) after Suharto took over. After the powerful Communist Party was decimated in 1965-66 and the erstwhile President Sukarno was forced out of power in 1967, Suharto quickly transformed Indonesia into a strident anti-Communist country and re-oriented the country from Russia and China to the West. Hence the exponential increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign and military aid. Second, oil was found in abundance in mid-1970s, which further filled up the government's coffer to the brim. High oil prices during the 1980s recession certainly helped to cushion Indonesia through the crisis. A lot of moolah meant cheap subsidies for the public, and that was why prices were artificially low during this period. Anyway, see this BBC News article about Suharto's "opaque legacy."

RIP Pak Harto

Finally, after weeks of breathless coverage of his near-death experience, Pak Harto had gone to meet his Maker. It's about time. I have no love whatsoever for Haji Muhammad Suharto, Indonesia's second President, who reigned with an iron fist for an unbelieveable 32 years. He was one of the most corrupt and brutal dictators in the 20th century. Think this is a stretch? Try asking the 500,000 members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and its perceived sympathizers who were violently vanquished in 1965-65 at the beginning of Suharto's New Order regime. Or the hundreds of thousands of East Timorese who were wiped out in scorched-earth campaigns when Indonesia annexed the then East Timor (now Timor Leste) in 1975. Or ask the thousands of Acehnese and Papuans who were mercilessly slaughtered in the military's decades long war against separatism. Or ask the countless numbers of activists who were 'disappeared' by the state apparatuses during his 32-year rule. Or people who are still being blacklisted for government jobs or university admission because their grandparents donated Rp100 to the Communist Party back in the 1960s.

Body counts aside, there is also the issue of chronic corruption. Suharto and his family, according to Time magazine and Transparency International, is the most corrupt head of state in the world, far surpassing Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (both are ignominously ranked second and third, respectively). No justice has ever been taken against Suharto, and now that he's gone his pending corruption charges will most probably be dropped or at the very least swept neatly under the rug by spineless current politicians who owe their wealth and influence from the man, Suharto, himself. I've always wondered why despicable people live a long life while noble ones don't. Suharto was 86 years old when he died and his fellow SE Asian despots-in-arm/golf buddies like Mahathir and Lee Kuan Yew are still alive and kicking. I guess the old saying "only the good die young" never rings truer. It also reminds me of a quote by Oscar Wilde: No man is rich enough to buy back his past. And Suharto's blood-soaked past will always be an irrevocable part of his legacy however hard his family, cronies and sycophants try to spin it. Anyway, rest in peace Pak Harto, or however much peace you can get when you're finally being delivered your comeuppance in the hereafter. Amin!