Activists have slammed a General Elections Commission plan to criminalise campaigning for golput (abstaining or invalidating a vote) ahead of this year’s legislative and presidential elections.

Man: Bored yet Mr! Forget about it until there’s a change of administration then dig it up again like usual!

Kid: A political Pandora’s box

Say no to corruption!
Say no to the drug mafia!
Say no to illegal rice imports!
Say no to... such-and-such... eh... accountability!

Despite repeated assurances by the General Elections Commission (KPU) that preparations for the 2014 legislative elections are on track, public confidence in the KPU was dealt another blow this week when it was reported that in several regions hundreds of ballot boxes used in the 2009 elections (Pemilu 2009) have been left out in the open due to

Smoke reads: Natural disasters, volcanic eruptions, flash floods, politics, corruption, Constitutional Court bribes, Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator bribery, political parties, election witness fees...

Sign reads: 2014 Festival of Democracy (2014 legislative and presidential elections)

Man: It’s a level 3 alert!

Water reads: Natural Disasters. Sack reads: Budget.

The Election Supervisory Committee is to summon officials from 10 ministries over allegations of the misuse of social aid funds to assist victims of natural disasters that it believes have been siphoned off for election campaigning.

Price list reads: Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) 100 million rupiah, House of Representatives (DPR) 200 million, Regent 300 million, Governor 500 million, President 1 billion

The political parties (parpol) are drooling at the mouth at the prospect of siphoning off billions of rupiah for their electoral campaigns after a controversial decision by the government to allocate 1.5 trillion rupiah (US$123 million) towards election witness fees (dana saksi) for the April 9 legislative elections.

Text reads: Presidential Candidate (Golkar’s Aburizal Bakrie), Politician, Legislative Candidate, Politics (President Yudhoyono)

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency a total of 5,650 or an average of 514 people per year lost their lives due to disasters such as flooding and landslides from 2003 to 2013.

1st Man: He’s coming here to inspect the situation yeah?

2nd Man: No fool, he’s off to a party meeting

Kid: There’s an awful smell of image building in the air Dad...

Man: Is Pertamina or the people loosing money... and who’s profiting?

With many senior government officials vying with each other to be nominated by the major political parties as presidential candidates (Capres) and more than 90% of lawmakers running as legislative candidates (Caleg) in the April general elections, the political elite have all but abandoned the pretence of trying to run the country.

Man: Peace on earth!

Kid: Dynasties aren’t just in Banten are they Mr?

Man speaking to Transport Minister EE Mangindaan: Mr Minister, the road accident rate is dropping, that means transportation is improving yeah?

Man: Ahh, all that’s changed is the year and they’ve gotten older...

Caleg: It’s also changed my fortunes!

Man: Please, go ahead Mr...

Man speaking to KPK chief Abraham Samad and Supreme Audit Agency head Hadi Poernomo: What’s important is where the money went Mr!

Kid: The money’s found its way far and wide... and in the end...

With legislative and presidential elections only a few months away, the Australian spy scandal provided a perfect opportunity for political grandstanding with politicians of every strip falling over each other to demonstrate their nationalist credentials by either blasting Australia – or slamming President Yudhoyono for over-reacting or criticis