F

ollowing Indonesia'€™s fourth direct election on Wednesday, a few areas will have to hold a revote because the wrong ballot papers were sent to them. More reports will in all likelihood flow in of instances of cheating, including attempts to buy votes. Many citizens will complain of being disenfranchised, for while in some polling stations excessive ballot papers had to be destroyed, other citizens were robbed of their voting rights because they were not registered or showed up at polling stations that had insufficient ballot papers. We will hear many more reports of such shortcomings, quite apart from instances of violence and intimidation.

It was rather exasperating to hear citizens who had no idea what to do at the polling stations, despite all the efforts at conveying information by the election organizers and the media, reflecting little improvement from the last elections in 2009 regarding citizens'€™ interest. Direct elections are no longer a luxury, and we may not have recovered from election fatigue. Rather than a celebration of democratic rights, elections have become a hassle for those complaining about having to select from so many parties and so many faces. But despite the bewilderment, as we have seen, tens of millions of Indonesians did turn up at their local polling stations.

Thus we congratulate our fellow citizens '€” over 185 million eligible voters within the country and among the diaspora. We congratulate also the millions of them, who at the time of writing may have hardly rested since early morning, in their task as local election committee members, chairpersons to neighborhood watchmen, and all the residents who helped prepare food for the committees and their neighbors during election day, which became a day to catch up with neighbors while monitoring the counting of the ballots.

The nation united in a landmark event made possible by all the hard work and preparation of election organizers and everyone else involved, including villagers who had to carry dozens of ballot boxes on foot to reach remote areas of our archipelago.

No one troubled those who did not turn up, fully respecting the fact that voting in Indonesia is a constitutional right, not an obligation '€” though analysts will worry whether the declining turnout in previous elections continued on Wednesday.

Early observations suggest the grand-scale elections proceeded fairly peacefully across the country, albeit with extra security precautions in potential hotspots such as Aceh, which saw a number of fatalities, including an infant, in the weeks leading up to the poll.

Those responsible for security will be wary about any negative impact of the instant quick counts in the wake of the elections, further extending the tension and excitement of the days to come before the official announcement by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

In the meantime, congratulations to everyone, and thank you to all the international and local observers. As political contests become normal, we hope Wednesday was a good omen to the upcoming presidential election in July.