What the Polls Say

Indonesians headed to the polls last Wednesday to elect their next president. The incumbent, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, enjoyed a strong lead up to the election and has all but been officially declared the winner (story). For the majority of people, he’s the cleanest (clean as in the least corrupt) and best leader for Indonesia. Indonesia’s economy is expected to grow by 4% this year due to domestic markets, precisely at a time when some other countries are experiencing shrinkage. So, many conclude something is going right here. And, given this is a young democracy, and only the second time Indonesians have directly elected a president, the election brings cause to celebrate insofar as it was largely uneventful. No democracy is perfect, however. Most voters are village-dwelling and believe that they must vote, a way of thinking that is a consequence of 30 years of New Order regime under Suharto. In other words, they don't realize they have a choice not to vote.

On Wednesday my research assistant and I went to the polls to observe. I saw many similiarities between voting in the US and voting in Indonesia. There are people from the community who work the polls, there’s a line-up of boths, a stamp that one has completed the deed (for Indonesians its indelible ink on a finger, for the US it’s the “I voted” sticker). We also witnessed last minute decision-making based on a coin toss. What seemed different at the polls in Indonesia is the familiarity among voters. Perhaps I have missed out on amiable interactions living in a city like L.A. Here in Yogya, the people greeted the guards (presumably their neighbors) and chatted before heading into vote. A group of three guys waited for their friend to arrive so they could go into together. At another site, we were invited to sit down under the tent that was the polling station. The officials offered us something to drink, which we were reluctant to accept the first time around. Once we accepted the drink, we were offered lunch, which we also eventually accepted. So there I was eating satay and drinking a palm sugar coconut drink on election day. If you ask me, a day at the polls says that Indonesians, perhaps especially Javanese, live up to the stereotype of being exceptionally friendly.