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Editorial: Thank you voters
No matter how chaotic the administrative preparations for the April 9 legislative election, and no matter how low the trust of the voters for the contestants in the elections, Indonesian voters proved once again, that our people - most of them are poor in terms of education and income - are rich in terms of morality, peacefulness, support for democracy and in taking civic responsibility
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No matter how chaotic the administrative preparations for the April 9 legislative election, and no matter how low the trust of the voters for the contestants in the elections, Indonesian voters proved once again, that our people - most of them are poor in terms of education and income - are rich in terms of morality, peacefulness, support for democracy and in taking civic responsibility. They are great voters because they acted as responsible citizens.
Our leaders and political elites should feel ashamed at the betrayal of the nation by the political class. There have been so many legislators both at national and regional level who had been jailed for abusing their power and enriching their own pockets. There are too many politicians who are still untouchable. There is little hope the next legislators will not repeat this corrupt and abusive behavior.
Quick counts and preliminary data from the General Elections Commission (KPU), indicated that major political parties like the Democratic Party (PD), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party were still leading in the counting, and new political parties like the Great Indonesian Party (Gerindra) were also making some gains.
In the next few days, we will get a much clearer picture of the victors in this election, and who will contest the July presidential elections. Voters apparently are more enthusiastic about the presidential elections, because they have more hope in a president, who will lead this nation for the next five years.
It is very likely there will be many complaints about irregularities and vote rigging, not only from the political parties but also from the legislative candidates. There is fear that there may be some violence because the losers and those who claim to be the victims of election malpractices may use all possible means to channel their frustrations. But as many of them have spent a lot of money on the campaigns, they now have less with which to finance their protests.
The April 9 election was definitely the most chaotic general election compared to those of 1999 and in 2004. Trust in political parties and politicians is also at its lowest level since democracy was restored. In 1999, the world applauded Indonesian voters after we had a truly well organized, democratic and peaceful election, just one year after we rid ourselves of Soeharto after 32 years of authoritarian rule, during which voters never had a genuine chance to exercise their constitutional rights to elect others or to stand for election.
In 2004 when voters directly elected their president , we also achieved a first for Indonesia. Voters proved again that we are a peaceful, democratic and orderly people. Unfortunately, some of the KPU members were imprisoned for committing corrupt offences. It was ironic we had a very democratic and peaceful election, but some of those responsible for this success were jailed.
All stakeholders are responsible for the success of these 2009 general elections. The losers and the winners need to act as true statesmen no matter how bitter or how glorious they feel in facing their new fate. But we hope that problems will be resolved, and peace will prevail after the elections.
