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COMMENTARY: Go and vote, or live to regret it for next five years
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The list of voters (DPT) in Pulau Panggang, Thousand Island , Jakarta, Saturday February 4, 2017.17.415 people of the Thousand Island Regency are eligible to vote during the Regional election on,February 15, 2015. (JP/Seto Wardhana.)
V
oting is voluntary in Indonesia, but Jakartans and voters from 100 other regions across the country will live to regret it if they stay away from the polling stations on Wednesday. And the nation may be all that poorer because of it.
Voters should take their cue from the United States, where millions of citizens are now protesting President Donald Trump’s policies, including the suspension of immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, although Indonesia fortunately is not on the list.
Many of those outraged at Trump’s policies contributed to his election in November. A voter turnout of 54.6 percent was lower than the 57.1 percent that gave Barack Obama his first victory in 2008. That amounts to more than 110 million Americans who did not cast their votes in November.
In Jakarta, more than 7.1 million people are registered to vote on Feb. 15. They can hardly complain about the choice of candidates: Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono-Sylviana Murni, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno.
With the four-month election campaign and three televized public debates, voters should have had enough time to assess the candidates’ relative merits, not only based on their vision and programs for the city, but also track records, integrity and character. The three pairs are different enough to represent all the divergent ideologies, aspirations and interests of voters.
Agus-Sylvi is a combination of a young former military figure and an experienced bureaucrat; incumbents Ahok and Djarot have their track records to speak for them; Anies-Sandiaga is a combination of a scholar/educator and a successful businessman.
With most surveys indicating the gaps dividing the three pairs to be quite narrow, one single vote, your vote, could be the telling factor in deciding the winner.
