indonesian_open Do you use Iwan Fals' Wakil Rakyat?

[Rochayah Machali]

Teman-teman para kolega pengajar,

Are you using Iwan Fals' song 'Wakil Rakyat' in your class? If you 
are, I just want to share my comments with you.

As you may recall, in the song we find these words/sentences:
"Saudara dipilih
bukan dilotre
Meski kami tak kenal
siapa Saudara"

Please let's not forget to give an introduction on this. The 
sentences in bold (above) are not applicable anymore in the 2004 
elections, because it's changed quite significantly now. This change 
is reflected in the ballot papers. The above sentence is still true 
in the 1999 elections, because people only voted for parties, ie 
without knowing who the candidates were (calon wakil rakyat), let 
alone their photographs.
So, 'mencoblos partai' (punching  the party symbol) was all they did 
in 1999, something like 'writing a blank cheque'.

However, in the 2004 elections, beside party symbols we also had 
lists of names (for calon Wakil Pusat) as well as pictures (for calon 
Wakil Daerah). So, people DO know who the 'calon' was for that party, 
and on the voting day they could 'coblos' both the party AND the 
name(s)/picture(s). Voters would have 'known' (ie 'kenal') the 
candidates from the intensive 'pendidikan pemilu' held before the 
voting day. At least this 'pendidikan pemilu' was what we did for 
Indonesian nationals in NSW, Qld, and SA  (I joined the 'pendidikan 
pemilu' held in Sydney and Adelaide).

If you want to look at the ballot papers (specimens), please check 
these websites.
1.	 For the 1999 ballot paper: click on http://www.un.or.id/ge
Then go to 'photo gallery'; and go to 'election materials'; then 
click on 'ballot paper (specimen)'. You'll see that it only has names 
and symbols of parties.
2.	For the 2004 ballot paper: click on http://www.cetro.or.id 
(cetro stands for centre for electoral reform).
Then click on 'Pemilu 2004' (top left side); scroll down until you 
see 'Contoh surat suara' [specimen of ballot paper] in the middle. 
You'll see that the ballot paper has both names/symbols of parties 
and names of candidates and their photos (for regional candidates).

Also, please don't forget that you can also click on 
http://www.kpu.go.id/Booklet/booklet_list.php
to view leaflets/posters/booklets, etc for the 2004 elections.
Similar materials for the 1999 elections are found on the United 
Nations home page above. Please note that 'kpu' in this site stands 
for Komisi Pemilihan Umum (electoral commission).

Additional Notes on the song:
Despite the above changes, of course we still see (for example on 
SCTV or RCTI or Metro TV) that some 'wakil rakyat' still fall asleep 
'waktu sidang soal rakyat', so that particular stanza in the song, 
sadly, still applies (ADUH!! kasihan rakyat Indonesia).
The last stanza also deserves comments/introduction:
"Wakil rakyat
bukan paduan suara
hanya tahu nyanyian
lagu setuju"

The above stanza does not quite picture the current situation 
anymore. We can see now (in the same Indonesian TV channels mentioned 
above) that the 'wakil rakyat' does not sing 'lagu setuju' anymore-- 
they literally and physically fought for showing 'lagu TIDAK setuju'. 
Horas bah!!! (as the Bataknese would say)

Stanza four is what the 'wakil rakyat' do nowadays:
"Bicaralah yang lantang
jangan hanya diam"

To some, it's even felt 'terlalu lantang' and 'kasar'.

Oke deh, teman-teman. Selamat mengajar 'Wakil Rakyat' dengan perubahan di atas.

Salam hangat,
Rochayah
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