Election Day

On the next 3 days, Indonesia will have a presidential election. What's so special about it? Indonesia is a democratic country, so election is not a new thing. Well… although it's not a new thing, but some things related to this are really new. This time, there's only 2 candidates so election will be held in one round only. It is important to choose the best candidate to lead this country for the next five years. 

Looking back to previous election on 2009, the real winner is "golput". It's not a party nor a candidate. It's a group of people who choosed not to choose, in amount of 30% of all voters. If only it were a party, they are the winner and can have their own candidate. 

But this year, things can be different. Despite all the negative news and black campaign between the two candidates, you can see the rise of people power. Some people do a lot of efforts to make sure they can join the election day. Well, apparently not all people can elect, thanks to the nation's "superb" database, and that's another story. But this can't stop them to vote. They tried all possible ways to make sure they are enlisted as voter and follow the administration procedures, which is not easy to follow.

For me, this is my 4th election, but this is the first time I do care that I have to vote and I do care who we have to vote. Why do I bother so much? Mainly because I believe that unity in diversity (known as Bhinneka Tunggal Ika) is far more important than unity in uniformity. Because unity in diversity is what our founding fathers believed, and it's what brought us into our independence on August 17th, 1945, and it's worth to fight for. Because it's about people power, and the future of Indonesia is in our hands now. So I need to vote, I have to vote, for one candidate. He may not be the best candidate or the best person to lead this country. But I believe that he's sincere and hard worker, he knows what it's like to be common people, who doesn't have silver spoon on his mouth since he was born. For what it's worth, I do hope he wins the election, because he represent the hope itself. On next July 9th 2014, I know I will vote for him. Salam 2 jari!! :))

Konser Salam 2 Jari, GBK, July 5th, 2014