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Indonesia's
Peaceful Poll Marks Historic Transformation into a Democracy
IN JUST six years, Indonesia - the world’s fourth most
populous nation and the largest Muslim country, with 220
million people - has gone from authoritarian rule to the
brink of chaos and now to full democracy.
Student-led protests forced the resignation of the country’s
former strongman, Suharto, in 1998, after 32 years in power.
A period of growing disorder followed, with separatist and
religious violence threatening to engulf the country.
Thus it was a remarkable spectacle when, this week, Indonesians
across the length and breadth of the huge archipelago of
17,000 islands, strung between the Indian and Pacific Oceans,
queued calmly to cast their votes in the country’s
first direct election for president.
The high turnout, around 80 per cent, put many longer-established
democracies to shame, though the counting was marred by
a Florida-style dispute over spoiled ballot papers.
With few substantial policy differences between the candidates,
the election has turned more on issues of character - and
on showbiz glitz. During the campaign, voters were showered
with stickers and T-shirts, songs and dances, platitudes
and more songs.
By yesterday, with more than half of votes counted, the
front-runner was Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a karaoke-crooning
former army general. With 34 per cent, he was well short
of the 50 per cent needed to win the contest outright in
the first round, but he looked certain to go through to
the September run-off between the two best performers.
His rival in the second round is likely to be the uncharismatic
incumbent president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, on 26 per cent.
However, Wiranto, another singing former general, was still
in with a chance of edging Ms Megawati out of the run-off
vote, with 22 per cent.
One of the high points of the campaign was a vocal duel
between the two former military men on Indonesia’s
version of the Pop Idol television contest. Mr Susilo, it
turned out, has the better singing voice.
He also has a cleaner record than Mr Wiranto, who has been
indicted on charges of crimes against humanity by a United
Nations-backed court, over the repression of East Timor’s
ultimately successful campaign for independence from Indonesia.
Mr Susilo was, until this year, Ms Megawati’s security
minister and oversaw the arrest and prosecution of the Islamic
militants who carried out the 2002 nightclub bombings in
Bali. Thus he has been able to offer the same tough law-and-order
campaign message as Mr Wiranto, but without being seen as
a throwback to the days of authoritarianism.
As for Ms Megawati, she deserves credit for overseeing a
restoration of relative calm and economic growth in Indonesia,
but she is seen as a poor communicator and a weak administrator
who has done little to rein in the country’s rampant
corruption. Much of her fading support derives from nostalgia
for her father, Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno.
In April’s parliamentary elections, her Indonesia Democratic
Party-Struggle (PDI-P) lost almost a third of its seats,
while Mr Susilo’s recently formed Democratic Party
surged in popularity. As a symptom of its weakness, Ms Megawati’s
government has become increasingly intolerant of criticism.
Editors have been convicted over satirical cartoons and
headlines. In June, a US researcher for a respected think
tank, the International Crisis Group, was expelled, apparently
because the group’s reports on Islamic radicalism and
separatist movements had rattled Indonesia’s intelligence
chiefs.
Mr Susilo, promising decisive action against corruption
and the chaos in Indonesia’s judicial system, has built
himself an image of calm, competence and honesty which,
pollsters say, has won him support from young and old, rich
and poor, and city and country folk.
A fluent English-speaker with a United States management
degree, he is also the candidate of business leaders and
the financial markets. Moreover, his victory would be seen
in the West as good for the war on terrorism.
It is remarkable, given Indonesia’s recent turbulence,
that the election has been so fair, peaceful and, above
all, conducted in a spirit of moderation. Ms Megawati called
on voters to accept the result, even though she might well
lose power.
While two Islamic candidates were on the ballot, neither
was calling for a fundamentalist Islamic state, and in the
event neither attracted much support. The success of this
election must put paid to any notion that Islam and democracy
are somehow incompatible. M (GM/IM)
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