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Your letters: Does Indonesia need political reform?
After what could only be called an unfair and thus undemocratic UK general election, the outcome has obviously produced discontent and renewed cries for political reform
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fter what could only be called an unfair and thus undemocratic UK general election, the outcome has obviously produced discontent and renewed cries for political reform. Proportional representation has been bantered around to no avail for a number of decades, but the glaringly unjust results of this 2015 event may prove to be too much to ignore even by the well-entrenched status quo.
This brings me on to Indonesia whose elections I have followed since 1992 when just over 97 million people voted in a 90.32 percent turnout. Soeharto and the Golkar Party unsurprisingly galloped home with nearly 68 percent of the vote and by doing so won in all of the existing 27 provinces.
That, of course, was back in the old cowboy days and seven years prior to the birth of reformasi when Indonesia adopted democracy, or a form of it anyway. Fast forward and we see BJ Habibie, Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and now Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, five presidents of differing personalities and capabilities and 17 years of what?
Clearly democracy has not really taken root, as for that you need solid and reliable institutions that are full of honest people that clearly wish to serve the nation and its people. As an observer, I ask myself the question of what the ordinary Indonesian would say about that. Well as we all know the answer to that one, I
relooked at the unfair UK election and wondered if I was in a position at all to make a judgment on Indonesia, when back home political injustice reigned.
The UK was also highly critical of the Sudan election where the incumbent President Omar al-Bashir and his political machine garnered 94 percent of the vote, with the UK saying this was not a true reflection of the will of the people.
I'm not saying there may not be some truth in that, but then in the UK, one particular political party secured over 13 percent of the vote and only got one seat in the Parliament, whereas another party that got only 4.7 percent of the vote secured 56 seats.
My point is, we need to be very careful as regards to criticizing how a country manages its political structure and behavior, especially when your own backyard needs a good sweeping.
David Wallis
Medan
