Won't Get Fooled Again!

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

That’s the refrain of the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who, which implies that we cannot expect a new government to be different from whom it replaced. This is the song that I always remember every time our country is facing a general election. Here is my experience :

After the reform came to Indonesia in 1998, I have great hope on a political party that has been treated as an underdog by the repressive Soeharto regime because it defended the less fortunate people i.e. Wong Cilik (Small People). So, in the 1999 election I gave my vote to that party, and it won.

However in 5 years that follows, said party’s performance was far from expectation, instead of defending the Wong Cilik it defended the Wong Licik (Tricky People). I felt so upset & hopeless that in the elections in 2004, I did not cast any vote in both the parliamentary and presidential elections.

The next government, from 2004 until now, performed quite well in various fields, maintained peace & order and made serious anti corruption campaign, bringing better hopes to many people.

For the General Election on 9 April, 38 political parties, many of which have similar political platforms, nominate legislature candidates with various backgrounds, starting from Tukang Becak & Tukang Bakso, to successful businessmen, therefore confusing the public.

Further, although the Presidential Election Law No. 42/2008 stipulated that the candidates should be nominated by a political party or several political parties that won 20% of the seats in the national parliament or 25% of national electoral votes, however those parties already named many candidates for the presidential election on 8 July: President SBY, VP Jusuf Kalla, former president Megawati, Prabowo, Wiranto, Soetiyoso, Deddy Mizwar. They advertised themselves in the mass media. Two of them have approached bloggers, i.e. Jusuf Kalla who met bloggers on 19 March, and Prabowo, who according to Unspun, has invited bloggers to meet him next Tuesday, 31 March 8 pm, at Amigos, Kuningan.

As a conclusion, I felt that there are too many political parties who will participate in the next general election. And considering that many of those parties have similar political platforms, therefore I would only focus my attention on 4 to 5 political parties which I think eligible. Hopefully this time I would be able to find one which is suitable for me, one that I would not regret.