Indonesian presidential election overseas voting begins

By Ainur Rohmah

JAKARTA

Indonesians living in 131 cities worldwide have started voting in the country's presidential election, with opinion polls showing a two-horse race too close to call.

For months, polls put 53-year-old everyman Joko "Jokowi" Widodo well ahead, but the latest survey by the Political Communication Institute suggests fist-pumping army general Prabowo Subianto, 62, is just 1.5 percent in front. 

Jokowi - who resigned his post as mayor of Indonesia's capital city Jakarta to run for president - is a one time little-known furniture retailer, whose stock began to rise in 2005 when he became mayor of the central Javanese city of Solo, while Subianto - reported to model himself on the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - is a businessman and heavily decorated lieutenant general, having headed the country's oppressive special forces under General Suharto 16 years ago.

Five days before the vote, expatriates in 19 cities will cast their votes Friday, while others will do so this weekend. The overseas ballots will be counted with those on the July 9 voting day in the country of 240 million people.

Kholil Rohman, a laborer working in Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, told the Anadolu Agency in a text message that the election had been enthusiastically welcomed by those hoping the incoming leader will protect migrant workers, including those tangled in legal cases.

"Both candidates said they would care for our safety if elected,” Kholil told AA Friday. “For me, it will be difficult to decide."

In Melbourne in Australia, Hangga Ady told AA by email that the moment was "very important for the people of Indonesia."

He said that Indonesian students in the city had formed a support group for Jokowi, and they were holding discussions and campaigning outdoors giving away T-shirts and badges.

Since May 20, the candidates have been locked in a race to become the new president of the world's most populous Muslim nation, incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stepping down after reaching the two-term limit.

The winner will face various problems, including poverty, high unemployment, rampant corruption and wide economic disparity. According to the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development, the monthly minimum wage in Jakarta is around Rp 2.5 million ($221) while CEOs of state-owned enterprises earn Rp 250 million ($22,100) per month. 

Such issues are not helped by the country’s commodity boom now being broke, leaving its manufacturing industry subsided and its power plants, roads, towns and ports in need of a rebuild.

With so much at stake, supporters from both sides have been waging war over social media, slurs thrown on television, newspapers and even in the performing arts.

In the past months, questions have been raised in the nation's press about Jokowi's ethnicity, race and religion, along with allegations of corruption. One report even went as far as to claim Jokowi had died. Subianto, meanwhile, has been accused of gross human rights violations when he was head of the Indonesian Special Forces, including the alleged kidnapping of students in the last days of Suharto's regime.

On Twitter, popular singer Sherina Munaf’s hastag #AkhirnyaMilihJokowi - "In the end, I vote for Jokowi" - has become a trending topic as she urges her millions of followers that young people must not be apathetic toward the election - in previous elections, very few young people have voted, and undecided voters are thought to make up more than 20 percent of the electorate.

The rise in negative “black campaigning” is coloring people’s lives, with tycoons with ownership of different media outlets supporting one candidate or the other.

On Wednesday, supporters of Jokowi blockaded the offices of TVOne – owned by tycoon and well-known Prabowo supporter Abu Rizal Bakri  - in Jakarta and Yogyakarta. The news channel had accused Jokowi of being a communist – a charge with negative connotations for Indonesians who consider it distant from religious values.

On Friday, English-language newspaper The Jakarta Post declared its support for Jokowi, marking the first time an Indonesian media company had openly conveyed its support for a presidential candidate.

"There is no such thing as being neutral when the stakes are so high," it said.

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