May 24

By Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo JAKARTA – The presidential election to be held on July 5 will decide the future leadership of Indonesia. Some people, mostly intellectuals, do not expect much and say that the next leadership will not bring many changes and the objectives of reform will remain far away. They also say that the legislative elections held on April 5 did not portend any significant change for the future. These pessimistic views fail to assess the reality well. The legislative elections did show changes which could influence Indonesia’s future. There was, for instance, the unexpected rise of two small and new parties, the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party, which were able to gain the fifth and seventh rank among the political parties, bypassing older and better known parties like the Crescent Star Party and the National Mandate Party. The rise of these two parties will change the situation in the national and regional parliaments, and could influence future developments at the central and regional read more .....