Parties' jargon `depicts own weaknesses'

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/26/2009 1:10 PM  |  Presidential Election

Political parties and their elites tend to use "unsubstantial" jargon, which can create confusion and apathy among people for the upcoming presidential election, because of the fact they have no clear ideology nor concrete programs, an observer said.

Ari Sujito, a political observer from Gadjah Mada University, said Wednesday that jargon promoted by presidential candidates like "Continue!", "The Faster, the Better", and "Pro People", lacked actual meaning for the public.

Ari also criticized the most recent slogan from the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono team, "Single round elections will save Rp 4 trillion (US$381 million)", as demonstrating inabilities on the part of the candidate camp.

"That's a strategy of the campaign team. That's okay. However, they would have been better to sell their strength instead of making *out of context' phrases," he told reporters during a discussion about the presidential election at Hotel Nikko, Central Jakarta.

"Single round and double round are the same to me. Both have legitimacy as long as they are carried out properly."

By saying that a single-round election will save Rp 4 trillion, he added, the SBY campaign team seemed to have distracted public opinion from the most recent surveys, some of which said SBY's electability has been dropping.

"Don't think our people, even the poor, are stupid and will buy all of the jargon," he added.

In any allegedly rampant vote-buying activities in earlier elections, the poor received the money simply because they were pragmatic and saw no other benefits from the candidates aside from the money from the candidates, Ari said.

"They know political parties lack realistic promises. The poor are informed that political elites put the pragmatic interest on the top priority over being consistent in ideology. They change coalition here and there, like opportunists. The public are watching this.

"When elites are pouring their lip services and sweet talks, they are actually showing their own bad images, because the public are aware of political parties' weaknesses," he added.

According to Ari, the parties' behavior is the main factor in the "political immaturity in Indonesia".

"I disagree if the public is said to be politically immature in implementing democracy. I think it is the elites themselves who are still *green' and need to change." (bbs)

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