Diplomatic community lauds RI’s peaceful election

Ary Hermawan ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 06/30/2009 10:44 PM  |  World

The diplomatic community commended Indonesia for its mature democracy, with no major cases of violence reported during elections so far, the dean of the diplomatic corps said Tuesday.

Indonesia held a peaceful legislative election in April in which about 171 million people were listed to go to the poll booths. On July 8, the world’s third-largest democracy will hold its second direct presidential election.  

“There is no fear [about the election here],” United Arab Emirates’ Ambassador to Indonesia Yousif R. Alsharhan, who is also the dean of diplomatic corps in Indonesia, said after holding a meeting of regional deans at the  Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta.    

The meeting was attended by Algerian Ambassador and Dean of African Diplomats, Hamza Yahia-Cherif,  Panamanian Ambassador and Dean of Hispano-Latin America and Caribbean Diplomats, Raul Antonio Eskildsen Arias, Serbian Ambassador, Zoran Kazazovic representing the European Group except the European Union (EU), and  the Czech Ambassador Pavel Rezac, whose country held the EU presidency until Tuesday.      
 
“Democracy is not interrupting anything. The election here is peaceful,” Alsharhan said, adding it was a great achievement as elections in other countries often lead to violence.
 
He said there were no complaints from more than 80 diplomatic missions in Jakarta regarding their activities during elections.

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