By this time, the fact is established that the current KPU members screwed up in their job and (dis)organized what many Indonesians see as the worst election in the country’s history. Some people excluded the elections during Soeharto’s time for being “undemocratic”, counting only the 1955 and post-reform elections; yet, they still say this election’s the worst of them all. They totally messed up big time in this election; don’t expect them to be able to arrange a full-scale traditional Javanese wedding ceremony with all its details.
The committee has been slammed over and over by various organizations and political parties (except the victorious incumbent’s, of course). In fact, I think the newspapers said that huge lawsuits are coming their way full speed. Errmm…KPU, good luck(?) The barricade looks good in front of your office, and my grandma said that it has a nostalgic value: it reminds her of Japanese colonial times in Jakarta during WWII.
However, KPU is not the only one taking a gargantuan hit after the election. Legislative candidates, half-affectionately called caleg, must also face the looming disaster of not getting that prestigious, money-showered representative seat. And some of them have already failed to cope with things going the wrong way. There are at least two types of stories from abortive calegs: the sad and the ironically funny, and perhaps a few that fits in both categories.
The sad stories are rather predictable. Calegs being suicidal are starting to (not) surprise us in the news. One female caleg from West Java, sources said she was pregnant, was found hanging in a hut in the middle of a rice field. Other failed calegs followed suit and ended their life after learning that they didn’t get a significant number of vote. Similarly, campaign managers of these calegs are joining the cruel trend too.
Another kind of sad story can be found more often: calegs from various parts of the country admitted into mental institutions. Some calegs and their family members prefer –maybe “were sent to” is more accurate- psychiatric hospitals, which have been on high alert status special for this election. I must say that the anticipation is one rare act of prepared prevention in this whatever-goes country. Also special for this election, those hospitals have equipped themselves with better amenities to accommodate these guys. Other calegs chose to enlist the help of spiritual gurus to guide them and ease the pain. Bathing in sacred lakes, holy waters, unintelligible prayers, or maybe more mainstream religious services like midnight prayers and Qur’an recital for muslims.
All of them are suffering from depression, ranging from mild to severe. They refuse to eat, talk, take a shower, and more than a few opt to bare everything, if you know what I mean. More belligerent calegs keep screaming at the open skies, demanding that their campaign money be given back. Not that strange, though, seeing that they’ve spent all of their assets to fund their campaigns and it’s very possible that they have taken out huge loans to add to the burden now.
Next, we have the funny stories. Let me start with this one: a caleg, who had donated carpets to a local mosque hoping to secure 20 votes from its Qur’an recital group, took the carpets back after somehow learning that he/she (sorry, got this one from Indonesian news) got only 19 votes. In a not-so-different fashion, candidates who gave out “cash donations” to his/her would-be constituents are now actively withdrawing those gifts. According to my mom, a TV news reported that a candidate who contributed his money to repair local roads tried to damage it back to its original condition, obviously because he lost. A more recent news covered a syukuran celebration of a failed caleg. He is very proud to say that he’d rather have a party than be sucked into a depressed state of mind. Either that or he’s just plainly went nuts.
These stories can tell us many things. First, the new election system put even more pressure on individuals running for office since they must compete with candidates from other parties and his/her own party. That translates to the necessity for more campaign materials and "contributions”. Second, because of all the costs, running for office requires lots of money that, sadly, doesn’t grow on trees. Life’s unfair, when you have little money. Third, our calegs haven’t quite grasped the concept of fundraising. Instead of owing here, there, and everywhere; calegs should have directly asked their supporters for donations to enhance their causes. Should they be elected, calegs pay the money back by actually serving those people, like making sensible laws and not sleeping on the job. If you see it like I do, these debt-ridden campaigns the calegs ran are clearly another form of gambling. Last, I must emphasize what people had said all this time, “they’ve spent so much money now and eventually, they will ‘multiply’ that amount in five years while being overpaid representatives.”
Man, this is sooo your Kryptonite!
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