M

y eyes moistened as I read a news report on July 6 about what had happened at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta a day earlier. More than 200 celebrities: musicians, singers, athletes and other popular figures gathered with tens of thousands of people to celebrate democracy and proclaim their support for one of the presidential candidates.

I was particularly moved when I read about 86-year-old Engkong Min, who was there among the crowd. He joined his neighbors from Jl. Radio Dalam, who came to Senayan in a public bus.

'€œI hope I will still have the chance to witness a wise and honest leader who will be able to improve our welfare,'€ said Min.

A very simple wish, and yet it reverberates deep in our hearts and minds. That'€™s exactly what most people across this enchanting archipelago have been wishing and praying for unceasingly for so long. Many have died in vain without witnessing and enjoying a prosperous Indonesia.

As Engkong Min wished, it is high time for this country to elect a new kind of leader, a leader who will be able and will have the guts to make strategic, landmark choices '€” at least for the next five years.

This country is very complex to manage and lead. We might expect too much from our presidents. But like it or not, a president is the last hope for inspiring this nation, to spur a nationwide movement to do good, to be more productive and to practice a more moral way of life.

Since the birth of a new kind of democracy in 1998, all our presidents have inherited a country with so many problems '€” economic chaos, communal conflicts, rising terrorism and extremism, cronyism and widespread corruption. All have crippled this country and its people. So many Indonesians still live in dire poverty.

Amid all their limitations, all presidents have strived to correct some of the country'€™s '€œillnesses'€. The problems have been too great for them to satisfactorily tackle and resolve. And some of their decisions, with all due respect, have sparked other serious problems that have given fresh setbacks or have made the situation more complex.

On July 9, Indonesians again have the opportunity to elect a new president. This election might set a record in terms of the percentage of people voting.

Never before have we seen such a show of emotion and frank expressions of political leaning as what we have witnessed this past month. So many people, individually or with their groups and institutions, have openly expressed their political choices.

A middle-aged woman from Sulawesi, for example, admitted through one of the TV channels that she never cast her vote during the former presidential elections. '€œBut, I will not miss [casting my vote] this time,'€ she said.

Since the end of the three-decade-rule of then president Soeharto in 1998, we have witnessed flickers of hope all over Indonesia. The establishment of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the imprisonment of scores of public and private figures for corruption is one of this nation'€™s stunning successes.

All over the country, we can see many initiatives that have cemented fresh hope for Indonesia'€™s future, for instance the transformation in the management and leadership in the city of Surakarta in Central Java, Surabaya in East Java, Bandung in West Java, and also in many other districts.

Local leaders have executed their power in more transparent ways, have worked hard and have applied strategic pro-poor decisions free of personal interests.

Scores of public companies that were ripe with corruption and mismanagement in the past, have also witnessed remarkable changes. The formerly lackluster state railway company, for example, has seen a substantial transformation. We no longer find any calo tiket (ticket middlemen) operating at the stations and the toilets are now much cleaner '€” and free of charge.

The state electricity company has also adopted a new system to reduce face-to-face interactions between its employees and people who want to install or add power to their properties, to prevent collusion with customers. The company has also slashed the bureaucracy in the procurement of equipment, leading to a significant improvement in efficiency.

We have also seen many innovative and transformational initiatives from NGOs. An NGO responding to a local plea near the largely barren lands of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), for instance, has been able to help thousands of people to farm vegetables.

A fashion designer in Semarang has for years opened a house to temporarily accommodate and support children suffering from hydrocephalus and waiting for hospital treatment. We have heard more and more of such sincere initiatives designed to help humanity and even animals and the environment.  

As we cast our vote this time, let'€™s all hope we will have a new president who will be able to lead us all to our collective dream of a stronger, secure, united and prosperous Indonesia.

Maybe not all our dreams will be realized in the next five or 10 years, but let'€™s hope that the likes of Engkong Min will still be alive to witness and embrace some of them.