Presidential Elections

[Adam]

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

 

[gilbert de jong]

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.

 

[ronb]

My $0.02 worth.

I thiknk the SBY/Kalla team of the past 5 years was effective. This is in conmtrast to
:arrow: B J Habibe who, in my opinion, bothced East Timor
:arrow: Gus Dur who, in mu opinion, may have good ideas but could not make anything happen - for example he no control over the army
:arrow: Megawati who passed some useful reforms, but in my opinion, wa having no impact on corruption at all

So SBY and Kalla have
:arrow: kept the economy growing
:arrow: succeeded with Aceh (that model would have been better for E Timor)
:arrow: have made progress on re-positioning where the army sits within the RI power structure
:arrow: made a very good start on the anti-corruption effort

Which f them deserves what credit? I'm not sure. But I am happy to see SBY back and will be interested to see how well his choice of running mate works out.

 

[Jimbo]

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

 

[gilbert de jong]

Hello...

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.

 

[Jimbo]

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

 

[gilbert de jong]

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.

 

[tintin]

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

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...nds-28-million-invalid-votes-sbyboediono.html

 

[gilbert de jong]

thanks for that link tintin .

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

 

[tintin]

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.

 

[noodles]

Sorry for return to this old topic As I know, it had been finished on last month but why I can still see advertiseing on media everynight...Announcer read news for No.1 or No.2, I donn't understand Bahasa only get some info. from news :wink:

 

[Markit]

They say that all politics are local and in this vein I gotta say that the local governor Pastika seems to be a pretty good administrator with scads of police, terrorism and corruption experience and everybody here seems to think the world of him. The Indonesian main gov is soooo far away in space and mind its hard to really feel a part of it, for the locals not for me - I never feel part of the govern(ed)ing process and hope I never will.