Thread: Presidential Elections

Nobody seems to have written anything about SBY's re-election. Do people think this is a good thing or a bad thing for Indonesia?

Personally I think it's great that Indo will have stable government for another few years with a dude who seems to be doing a pretty good job. What do you long term expats think and how has he influenced your lives in Bali since he was in power? Any responses would be interesting...hey Phil, you out there, you always give a great, inciteful commentary?

Regards
Adam

Hi Adam,

Personally haven't been long enough on the Island or in Indonesia to make some kind of evaluation of his (SBY) accomplishments...I does seem to me that he's trying but at the same time i think it doesn't really matter that much who's the head of state...I mean that whoever is in "charge" tries his/hers best. Before elections they (politicians) always promiss alot but it seems hard to deliver on those promisses.
As for stable...the people on the background either keep it stable or allow some things to happen...be it on the background of the president or the opposition if you catch my drift...
Don't think he really had any kind of influence on my life as an Expat on Bali, the sun comes up in the morning and goes down in the evening :lol: . just joking .
I have no idea if he had any influence on expats lifes who do business on Bali,like in LAW's or stuff like that...
Friendly greetings.......Gilbert.

Best there is of all the candidates but the real winner is Democracy.

Hello...

Originally Posted by Jimbo

the real winner is Democracy.

I seriously doubt that, to be a democracy all people who have the right to vote should get a card to vote...And overhere in Panji +- 15 % of the people who should have voted, couldn't because they didn't had that card. Wonder how that number is in the rest of Indonesia?
I think democracy is great, but some balinese-people I know call it a democraZy..'election for this - election for that'..they say that there are just too much..
friendly greetings,,,Gilbert.

Obviously you know your area better than me but what you did not say is why> maybe they did not register?

Having been in Indonesia throughout a lot of the Suharto years I much prefere too much to too little.

Perhaps youe area suffers from Democrolazy :D

Hi jimbo,

They themselfs don't know why they didn't get that card, I also have no idea, but they are registered....
You're very right, because of all the different elections and so many candidates, most (if not all)don't bother to get to the bottom of it and indeed suffer from Democrolazy :lol: .
Friendly greetings....Gilbert.

This last Indonesian presidential election was almost as bad as the US 2000 & 2004 elections! :lol: :lol:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2...yboediono.html

thanks for that link tintin :) .

And I guess those numbers in the article is only the tip of the iceberg :lol: .

You're welcome, Gilbert, anything for a laugh,…

…but don't get me wrong: I did not publish this link to dump on Indonesia and its latest presidential election. I just thought that, in a way (maybe I have a strange sense of humor), the whole thing was funny. These guys went all out, manufacturing "votes mark-ups that benefited SBY-Boediono, fictitious polling stations and counterfeit C1 forms (a form detailing the results of the ballot's tally for party witnesses).” Now, that takes imagination and dedication. Like I say, I may have a special sense of humor, but I was impressed by the magnitude of the enterprise. This is truly worthy of any "establshed western democracy"!

However, "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones," and one should look at the so call "model for democracy," which supposedly is the US of A (at least, this is what I hear every single day in the US media). Not exactly a pretty picture…

One cannot help but be impressed with the fact that Indonesia went from being an enslaved country for many centuries, to a transitional whatever that was under Soekarno (who gave Indonesians back some pride), to 30 + years of a full blown dictatorship, and came out to a democracy, an Indonesian democracy, in one half of a century. And all of this progress was made against and in spite of foreign as well as domestic dark influences. Of course, this is a work-in-progress, which will never be finished, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and I find that the Indonesian people, like people all around the world, have "freedom" written in their DNA, and wont be denied.

So, my best wishes to SBY. :)