July 5: Polls open Indonesian Presidential election

In 1999, after resignation of the former Indonesian President Suharto because of the REFORMASI (reformation movement), there was a free election held to elect the Legislative members. The election follows a messy transition to democracy, marred by political chaos, economic crisis and bomb attacks.

July 5, 2004 will be another historical moments for the Indonesian people because they have the rights to determine who will be their nation leader. The presidential direct election is a very significant and meaningful for the democracy development in the South East Asia and the world.

Furthermore, Indonesian have the largest Muslim population in the world. It can be the reference for many Islamic countries in the world especially Afghanistan, Iraq and many of the Third world countries. We knew that almost all Islamic and the Third World countries still under the ruling of the undemocratic and repressive government. The people still suffer from their repressive acts.

The Indonesian democracy may bring a lot of chaos and even political unstability, but this is the process that the people and the political leaders have to learn. Through the process the people can practice their rights to get involve in the nation building that benefit the general people.

Only the people who are in power will not prefer to the democracy because it will only limit their power to control the people. The democracy system will always make their status quo challengable. The arguments of the negative effects of the democracy always come from the people who want to remain the status quo.

Democracy may not the best solution for the current problems but it can minimize the risks of create a tyranny, dictator or repressive government. At least, the president have to get through majority to become the President.

The Indonesian Presidential election is the focus of the democracy development in the region. More than 150 million Indonesians are eligible to vote in the direct presidential elections. In order to win outright, one of the five contenders must get more than 50% of these votes. If no one does, there will be a run-off between the top two candidates in September in a second round of voting.

Let's keep our eye on Indonesia. Make sure the people will enjoy the fruit of the democracy.