F

ormer US president Theodore Roosevelt once described the strength of a vote in the following words: '€œA vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.'€

In less than one week, more than 180 million voters in Indonesia '€” the fourth most populous nation on this planet '€” will use their '€œrifles'€ in the legislative election to clean up the House of Representatives by booting out its many lazy, inept and corrupt politicians and injecting fresh blood into the ailing legislative body.

Indonesian elections are very important in the sense that the fate of a quarter of a billion people is at stake. A democratic Indonesia that is stable, secular and strong is vital, not only for regional peace, security and prosperity but also for the world.

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri has proclaimed '€œIndonesia Hebat'€ (Indonesia is great). Cutting across party lines, everybody agrees that Indonesia is great. Indonesia is a rich country but Indonesians are poor. Some leaders, politicians, bureaucrats and judges are corrupt. Indonesia should have become a rich nation a long time ago.

Despite its fertile land and ample water and natural resources, Indonesia currently imports most of its food items, including salt, from various countries. It sells vital energy resources like coal and gas at cheaper prices to foreign countries and buys oil and gas from non-oil producing countries. Instead of using coal, gas and geothermal resources, which are available within the country, Indonesia still uses a large quantity of imported oil to produce electricity.

Due to mismanagement, rampant corruption, overlapping laws, smuggling and weak democratic institutions, Indonesia has become a patient with many diseases.

Indonesia evidently needs a smart leader if it is to fix all its problems in the next five to 10 years. In the past, people gave a massive mandate to a strong leader (Soeharto) and a popular leader, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, both former military generals. But the results were not that impressive. Only a few thousand people became extremely rich, while millions remained poor.

Indonesia may have the biggest economy in Southeast Asia and be a member of G20, but the archipelagic nation lags behind its ASEAN peers like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in terms of exports, manufacturing, education, unemployment, health, sports, science and technology, tourism and many more areas. Indonesia wasted a golden opportunity under President Yudhoyono over the last 10 years. Things should have become much better.

Among the leading presidential contenders, Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto '€” the former son-in-law of late dictator Soeharto '€” has regularly vouched for firm and effective governance and some sort of xenophobic nationalism during the election campaign.

The contours of Prabowo'€™s messages are clear. Indonesia needs a strong leader to take care of it and he proclaims himself as that strong leader due to his military background. Prabowo, a retired three-star army general, lacks experience in administration. He has never served as a minister or governor or a mayor.

Aside from Prabowo, there are other former generals, including Hanura Party chief Wiranto, Pramono Edhie Wibowo from the Democratic Party, as well as the leader of the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), Sutiyoso, who are all eyeing the country'€™s top post. It would be a Herculean task for any of these generals and their parties to win 25 percent of the total votes polled or 20 percent of seats in the House in order to contest in the presidential election.

Then, we have Jakarta Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, a popular leader from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who wants to overhaul the whole system in his gentle Javanese way. Jokowi'€™s down-to-earth personality, blusukan (impromptu visits), secular profile, good governance and clean image have made him the most popular leader in the country.

Indonesia'€™s problems are complex and messy. For sure, Jokowi could become a better president than Yudhoyono or Megawati, but several people have doubts over Jokowi'€™s ability to fix all of Indonesia'€™s problems.

Apparently, Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, a businessman turned politician, may also have a chance of competing in the presidential election, though winning may be difficult. Aburizal lags behind his political peers in terms of popularity due to the alleged involvement of one of his companies in the Lapindo mudflow disaster in East Java.

Many Muslims have lost faith in Islamic parties. As more than 85 percent of the country'€™s population adheres to Islam, there is not much room for specific Islamic parties in the political arena as the majority of the members and leaders of most political parties are Muslim anyway. Some may even say a Muslim-majority Indonesia does not need Islamic parties at all. The involvement of several politicians from Islamic parties in corruption scandals has tarnished the image of Islam-based parties further.

What about the voters?

Surprisingly, most Indonesian voters are not members of any political party. They are just floating masses, which can easily direct their support to a different candidate or party. Indonesian voters have become cleverer and more independent in choosing candidates in recent years, as is visible in several recent local elections.

Another point is that, since 1998, no single political party in Indonesia has ever won a majority in the House. As a result, almost all governments in the post-1998 era have been forced to form coalitions with other parties, thus making them weak and ineffective. It'€™s time to change this by electing a presidential candidate and his party in the general election.

Indonesian voters, mainly young and educated ones, want to punish inept and corrupt politicians and their parties in the forthcoming elections. It remains to be seen whether the voters will choose a strong leader or a popular leader. Or will they look for another leader?

In order to put Indonesia on the right trajectory, there is a need for a super-smart leader, who is not only a statesman but is also popular and decisive. Is there anybody out there?