Chinese turnout in Indonesian election

• Source: Global Times
• [21:13 April 14 2009]

By Sun Wei

Tens of millions of Indonesians went to the polls on Thursday to choose a new parliament, among them record numbers of ethnic Chinese.

Five percent of the 212 million Indonesian population are ethnic Chinese, according to statistics.

It is hard to know how many of the registered 171 million eligible voters are ethnic Chinese – many have long since abandoned their Chinese names or choose to otherwise conceal their heritage. But they are passionate
about participating in the election.

Athia, a 22-year-old student shows her inked finger after voting with her family at a polling center in Jakarta yesterday as Indonesia holds its third general election since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998. Photo: AFP

Chen, an ethnic Chinese, voting with her two daughters, told Global Times, "I vote for the party that values people's well-being. I hope they can bring security and peace to my country."

It wasn't until the passage of the citizenship bill in 2006 that many ethnic Chinese were able to claim Indonesian citizenship, and therefore vote and register as a political candidate.

Political parties across the spectrum are inviting ethnic Chinese to get involved this year.

Before the election, H. Marzuki Alie, the secretary of the Indonesian Democratic Party, on March 30 called for the involvement of ethnic Chinese in the election, saying ethnic Chinese should seize the opportunity to present their voices and rights. "It is not impossible to contest for president."

There are 11,000 candidates running for seats in the House of Representatives and a whopping 1.5 million contesting the elections at district and municipal levels, among them many ethnic Chinese.

"The year 2009 sees President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government easing limitations on ethnic Chinese, and giving more political rights to them," Luo Yongkun, researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told Global Times, "The political status of ethnic Chinese is elevating."

However, he added, this elevation should not be exaggerated. "The government wants to gain more votes from ethnic Chinese, and the effort is part of their aim to ease tensions between ethnic groups."

Li Boqiao, President of the Indonesian National and Democratic Forum, speculated that "the chance of ethnic Chinese of winning the elections in the House of Representatives is minimum," but that the chance of winning the contest at the district and municipal level is still possible.

The election results, which may not be known for two weeks, will strongly influence the presidential campaign, since only parties or coalitions garnering more than 25 percent of the national votes, or 20 percent of the 560 seats in the national Parliament, can field a candidate for president.

A strong showing by the Democratic Party could allow Yudhoyono, who is widely favored to be re-elected, to run without a coalition partner.