Edzan Rahardjo, Yogyakarta – The elections will be held soon on April 9. For various reasons however, there are still many who are expressing their opposition to the five-yearly festival of democracy.
In the Central Java city of Yogyakarta, scores of students held a protest action opposing the 2014 legislative and presidential elections at the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University (UIN) campus intersection on Saturday March 8.
During the action they drew graffiti on the roads and campus fence with messages such as “Reject the 2014 elections” and set fire to red-an-white [the colours of the national flag – JB] T-shirts with pictures of a ballot box and the words “Reject the 2014 elections” printed on them.
Action coordinator Romel Masykuri said that the presidential candidates that have been nominated all have black records. Some are past human rights violators, others are involved cases of environmental destruction, while others lack the capacity or integrity as leaders.
“We don’t trust the current crop of political actors. Don’t let the people suffer again, reject the 2014 elections”, he said in a speech.
Out of the legislative candidates that come forward, ninety percent are old faces who have been re-nominated. Their poor track records include frequently being absent from parliamentary sessions, producing legislation that sides with foreign interests and so forth.
In addition to this, the General Elections Commission (KPU) as the organiser of the elections is still not ready, with many people not yet registered on the final voter list (DPT), many duplicate names and numerous election violations being committed by the political parties. (rmd/rmd)
[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service.]
