Joy mixes with rivalry at SGU student presidential race

Marisa Surya ,  Swiss German University student   |  Sun, 04/27/2008 12:48 PM  |  Discover

Fadh's running mate, Trusti Pratiwi, casts her vote during the 2008 SGU student election for the top two seats on the Student Executive Board. (JP/Marisa Surya)

"Let's make a deal! You vote for us, we make it real," read a campaign banner for a presidential and vice presidential pair that stood in front of the elevator in the Swiss German University (SGU) building at Bumi Serpong Damai, Tangerang.

The other two duos preferred to put up posters, bearing their photos and distinctively colored "Vote for us" message, on the student announcement boards.

The three pairs of candidates were vying for the top positions on the Student Executive Board, or BEM.

The atmosphere on the SGU campus really heated up just before the April 14 student presidential election as three eligible pairs -Maria Yunita and Inez Karina, Dimas Baskoro and Maria Regina, and Fadh Adityo Oscar and Trusti Pratiwi - campaigned to lure voters.

Ordinary students also played their part in the campaign. They wore costumes to express their support for their president and vice president hopefuls.

Supporters of Maria and running mate Inez wore red shirts while Dimas and Regina supporters opted for white shirts, and supporters of Fadh and Tiwi wore batik as their show of support.

Candidates also used a variety of approaches to win voters. Dimas-Regina and Fadh-Tiwi both chose a personal approach to convince students to vote for them.

Meanwhile, Maria-Inez preferred to use attractive paraphernalia such as balloons and bandanas, and also distributed candies to woo voters.

"This is a lively election campaign. Maria and Inez, for example, proved they are hard workers and also very creative candidates during the campaign," said Ivan Firdausi, a 4th-semester student of the Information Technology faculty.

"I agree that the campaign is quite interesting. But as an SGU student, I hope that the new leaders will have the capability to present SGU in public, especially among universities," said Tika, Ivan's friend.

The student presidential campaign at SGU has always been a busy yet festive period for students, and this year's campaign was no different.

Students volunteered on the campaign teams of the three candidate pairs, developing their promotional programs and drafting their speeches.

This year's race kicked off on April 1 with a public campaign in which candidates freely pursued student voters through various means.

The election committee then organized a joint forum on April 8-9 for the candidates to present their programs to the student public.

The general polls took place on Monday, April 14, with special a voting date on April 16 for students in their final semester of university who rarely came to campus and for those who were on overseas internship programs.

Ballot boxes, borrowed from the local regency election commission (KPUD), were made available to students to cast their votes.

The final vote count showed that Fadh and Tiwi won 41 percent of the total 412 votes, followed by Maria and Inez with 36 percent, and Dimas and Regina with 22 percent.

The newly elected president and vice president of the SGU Student Executive Board were installed on Monday, April 21.

Elected vice president Tiwi was satisfied with the outcome: "It was a great election for students. We learned about democracy, but we also had some fun during the campaign."

Tiwi was optimistic that she would be able to implement their proposed programs to raise SGU's profile among the public.

She also promised to set up a campus magazine, place public announcement regularly through flyers and banners and to hold competitions among university and high school students.

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