Out & About: Obama should look beyond the gleam of skyscrapers

United States President Barack Obama was naturally awed when he saw Jakarta for the first time in more than four decades to see how much Jakarta had changed. The skyscrapers that line Jl. Thamrin — symbols of the country’s modernity — certainly confused the man who knew only Hotel Indonesia and Sarinah when he left the country for Hawaii.

Speaking at the University of Indonesia, Obama said he was impressed by the political change in the country. But if he had time to look more closely, beyond the glitter and his security perimeter, he would certainly have been disappointed to see the corruption of modernity and democracy by primordial values.

The devolution of power to local government — which entailed the democratization of politics in the 1990s — has been bandied about by elites who are hungry for power at the local level in elections around the country.

Last week, voters in South Tangerang had to make a choice as to who they would vote for as mayor. Weeks before polling stations opened, residents had to deal with banners, posters and stickers bearing the faces of the four tickets in the contest throughout the area.

The most visible posters I saw, at least in Ciputat, were those of an attractive candidate alongside a neat-looking man in an expensive suit who appeared to be her deputy. I could see that almost every inch of wall space in Ciputat was adorned with their posters.

Ticket number four, candidates Airin Rachmi Diani and Benyamin Davnie, enjoyed the support of nine major political parties of all stripes; they were the only bona fide ticket in the race.

Putting a beautiful woman with cheerful eyes alongside her deputy was certainly a smart move — showing voters that this time it is woman who will be behind the wheel.

In a traditional society like ours, appearance matters more than headache-inducing campaigns. Although South Tangerang suffers from a multitude of problems, from poverty, poor quality healthcare, floods and garbage, the candidates’ campaign ads did not touch on those issues.

In some places, voters thought the candidates in the fourth ticket were the only contestants in the election, unaware of the three other tickets in the race. Forget about the multiparty system that we take pride in today. At the local level the system has been corrupted by electioneering, and officials from the district, subdistrict and in the neighborhood have a hand in corrupting our hard-won democracy.

A neighborhood leader in Ciputat complained about the fact that too many posters were plastered on people’s walls, and alleged that the infraction was carried out by an illegal team from one of the campaigns.

Rumors also swirled that some voters could vote twice, if not more. A voter told me she was told she could vote twice if she wanted to by a neighborhood leader and an official at a polling station. Others cast three votes on behalf of one ticket. As everyone should have been checked off after casting their ballot, you can guess who got the extra votes. Do we bother to investigate? The one-man-one-vote principle can in fact easily be corrupted for the sake of politics.

On election day, everyone expects campaign materials to be set aside. But that did not happen, and as was expected it was the ticket backed by the major political parties that won the race. The triumphant pair is now basking in their victory.

Now, after the dust has settled, we can only hope the winning ticket will clean up all the garbage they left on our walls. Six days after the election, campaign material was still up and could easily be found in many parts of Ciputat, creating eyesores that won’t soon go away for residents.

I suggest the first thing the winning ticket should do is clean up their trash and make cleanliness their first priority after taking office. It is also a good idea for the government to ban political parties and candidates invading residential complexes with their political ads.

We have been shown time and time again that political parties and candidates are not interested in cleaning up the messes they leave behind, leaving a burden for the community to clean up.

It’s a pity Obama had to leave so soon and couldn’t see the truth behind the gleaming skyscrapers.

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