EDITORIAL : THE JAKARTA POST, INDONESIA

Let’s vote

The phrase “Vox populi, Vox Dei” (the voice of the people is the voice of God), was an old saw when Alcuin wrote the words to Charlemagne almost 12 centuries ago. 

The words were an undisputed recognition of the public’s role in government, and certainly ring true today. The gubernatorial election held today in Jakarta is further proof of the truth of another phrase — every vote counts — as people go to the polls in hopes of making the metropolis a better place to live.

Nearly seven million voters will make a collective decision that will shape the fate of the capital city for the next five years — if they exercise their right to choose one of six candidates in the race.

For better or worse, the voice of the electorate will affect the rest of Jakarta’s denizens: the commuters and those who make a living and do business in the capital, where about 60 percent of nation’s money supply circulates. Millions of people who have no right to vote are pinning their hopes on those who can exercise the franchise.

Unlike the two-horse race during the city’s last (and first) direct gubernatorial election five years ago, this time around, voters have no good reason to skip election day and squander their chance for change. 

This year’s election season has been more feisty, with six tickets contesting for the city’s top jobs. Those who may have lost faith with candidates from political parties also have no excuse: there are two independent candidates in the running.

Hopefully, voters will have made up their minds before arriving at polling stations, as all the candidates have tried their best to show they deserve the people’s mandate. During 2-week campaign season that ended on Sunday, the candidates made promises and discussed their platforms, programs, initiatives and promises in the media and on the street. 

The candidates all claim to have the skills needed to manage the city, solve its myriad problems and to promote the general welfare. It will require wisdom and caution from the electorate to decide. At stake are the interests of the city. 

Voters may have been enticed by smoothly delivered campaign rhetoric on a host of problems to solve Jakarta’s myriad woes, from horrendous traffic to poor public services and from the floods that inundate the city every year to the poverty that afflicts all too many residents.

However, a free media and easy access to the Internet have meant that voters can easily investigate the track records of each candidate on their own, evaluating a candidate’s leadership ability, personality, integrity, credibility and his (for the candidates are all men) achievements in tackling the day-to-day issues that comprise work of a governor. Information is available everywhere, in abundance, so voters can scrutinize and gauge those who would lead Jakarta.

Of course, money is another way that people can be motivated to vote. In every election in Indonesia, officials have had to contend with the illegal practice of vote buying — often called serangan fajar or a dawn attack, as it occurs just hours before voting begins. 

Only a few cases of vote buying were brought to court in the past. Allowing continued violations of election law to happen paves the way for corruption, as elected leaders leave no stone unturned to recover the money they spent to gain high office.

Today is the right time to select a leader who will respond and solve grievances and complaints you have endured for the last five years. So let us vote.