Indonesians abroad celebrate democracy

Indonesians abroad celebrate democracy

With as many as 186 million of their countrymen eligible to vote on Wednesday, about 1,000 Indonesians in Thailand have also participated and cast their ballots in advance for the presidential election, according to Lutfi Rauf, the Indonesian ambassador to Thailand.

Of the 3,000 registered Indonesians living in Thailand, there were more than 2,000 eligible voters, half of whom had registered as of last week to exercise their franchise, said Mr Lutfi.

“We have a joint committee comprising people from various sectors to organise [advance voting] at the sports hall of the embassy in Bangkok,” he said. “We also have drop-boxes distributed to remote areas to collect the ballots as well.”

Indonesia has conducted overseas voting for legislative, presidential, and Jakarta governor elections at its embassies around the world in the past decade but enthusiasm is clearly highest for the presidential elections, he said.

The campaign for the July 9 presidential election has attracted even greater interest than usual since there are only two candidates, so it will be winner take all without the need for a runoff when more than two contenders take part.

Competing to govern the world’s third-largest democracy and the world’s largest Muslim nation are Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the popular former governor of Jakarta, and retired special forces general Prabowo Subianto.

Opinion polls show Jokowi and running mate Jusuf Kalla continuing to lead Gen Prabowo and his vice-presidential candidate Hatta Rajasa, but the gap has narrowed and many voters are undecided.

The advance ballots cast in Thailand and elsewhere will be counted on the same day as those in Indonesia and added to the tally in the home country.

Most Indonesians in Thailand live in Bangkok and surrounding provinces as well as Pattaya, Songkhla, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Saraburi and Khon Kaen.

Elections for legislators in Indonesia have taken place since 1955. However, even after the overthrow of the dictator Suharto in 1998, it took another six years for the first direct vote for president to be organised. The 2004 election was won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected in 2009 to a second and final five-year term.

“Our democracy is still young and we still have a number of challenges due to the diversity of culture, races, languages, education, and logistics, among others,” said the Indonesian ambassador.

Democracy, he added, has been flourishing in the post-Suharto era, with Indonesian people entitled to cast ballots for as many as 500 elections all year round from sub-district and district leaders, to governors, provincial councillors, mayors, parliamentarians and the president.

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