Skip to main content

Indonesia and The Election Year

This year, Indonesia will face two election: the general election for legislative body's members --from local councillor in district level, to provincial and state parliaments-- and the presidential election. The first one will takes place next April 9th, whilst the second one on July 5th.

Unlike the previous election in 2004, the general mood this time is a little different. In 2004, everyone anticipated the coming election with excitement. Five years ago, we experienced our first ever direct presidential election. Before, our head of state always picked by a handfull members of the People's Representative Assembly, a sort of Indonesian version of the US Congress.

In 2004, we were also eager to end our political landscape's turmoil. We had a very fragmented coalition back then. At first, after the 1999 election, we had Central Axis Coalition, consists of Golkar and a few Islamic parties as the ruling coalition. That coalition collapse halfway, resulting an impeachment of the then presiden Abdurrahman Wahid. Golkar approached PDIP --the winner of 1999 election-- and together they backed Megawati, as the new president.

Maybe the public back then in 2004, was tired to watch all of those political gimmicks. Not to mention, the trial of Akbar Tandjung, that went nowhere, corruption everywhere, incompetence in all level of government. The election came and seen as a rescue, a way out, to break and end this political fiasco, and create a better one out of it.

Today, the mood is different. We're not that excited to welcome the election year. We want to see progress, we want to see improvement, we want to work, work, work, for the better of our country. We tend to see the election as an obstacle, in one way or another, especially when it got nothing to do --or at least so it seems-- to our big project in reinventing Indonesia, making it prosper and excell. The candidates are all old faces who wants to make a comeback to the center stage, and offer nothing new except in rhetoric. No wonder people are complaining, and wishing all of this will end soon.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Catatan dari Kursus Singkat AJI Jakarta di Belanda

Seharusnya catatan ini dibuat lebih awal, karena rombongan 18 orang anggota AJI yang mengikuti kursus ‘using new media to promote freedom of the press’ sudah kembali ke Indonesia, sejak dua pekan lalu. Namun, berhubung kesibukan di kantor dan rutinitas pekerjaan kami masing-masing, langsung menyergap sesampainya kami di kota-kota asal kami, catatan ini pun jadi tertunda. Catatan ini saya anggap penting sebagai bentuk ‘pertanggungjawaban’ kami kepada khalayak anggota AJI –wabil khusus AJI Jakarta, namun juga AJI di kota-kota lain—yang benderanya kami wakili dalam perjalanan tiga pekan kami di Eropa. Selain itu, catatan ini juga merupakan tahap pertama upaya diseminasi dari hasil training kami itu. Sekadar mengingatkan, kursus singkat hasil kerjasama AJI Jakarta, Neso (lembaga penyedia beasiswa Belanda) dan Radio Nederland Training Center ini adalah hasil dari negosiasi panjang kami sejak pertengahan 2009 lalu. Idenya berawal dari keprihatinan kami mendengar dan menyaksikan bagaimana k