History has been made in Indonesia's political journey
Many do not realize that when they wake up this Sunday morning, the political landscape of Indonesia has changed, as officially confirmed by the Electoral Commission KPU.
The final count was reached by the KPU just before the deadline last night:
Demokrat 26.43 %
Golkar 19.2 %
PDIP 16.61 %
PKS 10.54 %
PAN 7.5 %
PPP 6.96 %
PKB 4.64 %
Gerindra 5.36 %
Hanura 2.68 %
PBB which is the party of Yusril Ihza Mahendra fails to reach the electoral threshold and ceases to exist
So although a presidential candidate (and the newspaper Media Indonesia) said that these are the worst elections in history, they are actually the best. That is if you loo at the big picture, not the technical imperfections.
Sometimes people miss the forest for the trees. We are witnessing spectacular points of progress whcih escape the skeptics:
Civilians have won over militarists. Gerindra and Hanura combined earned only 8.04% of popular viotes, which means the civilian parties have a majority of 91.88%
Secular parties have won a resounding majority, with only the PKS left as a voice for sectarian politics. PAN, PKB, PPP are parties with heavy religious content but they have pledged support for SBY who is non-sectarian
Jockeying for Presidential tickets is conducted in the open, which many find boring but is actually the antithesis of Suharto-style authoritarian politics
Announcement of parliamentary winners was done in a television show on one tv channel with some of the candidates present and being asked for comments
Popular figures and entertainers who emerged as winners showed understanding of electoral politics and reacted like Grammy winners
The high parliamentary turnover shows desire for change
We will find more pros and cons as the days go by.
In the meantime, Indonesia has shown "Yes, we can". Obama did this in a spectacular way. Indonesia in a seemingly uncertain way, but the results speak for themselves.
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