The reactions of presidential candidates who failed to make it to the final round are varied. Some don't believe in the counted votes, while others have displayed more grace, carefully preparing `throwing in the towel' speeches.
Presidential candidate from the Golkar Party, Wiranto, squints his eyes, but the series of digits spread out on the three by three meter square screen remain unread. Politicians from Golkar and the Wiranto-Salahuddin success team behind him, are mumbling. The program updating the provisional vote count in the Golkar offices in Slipi, West Jakarta, last Monday night was disturbed by "technical difficulties."
"Ah, that's better," says Wiranto, smiling after one of the Golkar secretarial staff enlarges the appearance of the numerals. Guests present breathes a sigh of relief, as does Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, who is sitting beside Mr W — as Wiranto is called by his close acquaintances. But the former commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces doesn't stay smiling for long. The election committee's vote count places him at number three. The front runner is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, followed by Megawati Sukarnoputri. Maybe it would have been better, had the figures remained blurred.
Luckily they are rescued by Golkar's version of the count. From a sample of 2.1 million voters, Wiranto is in second position, around five percent higher than Mega-Hasyim. Guests cheer and everyone gives a standing ovation. Wiranto remains calm, not getting too excited too quickly. "It's valid isn't it?" asks Ryaas Rasyid, United National Democratic Party (PPDK), a party supporting Wiranto.
Feeling he has been reproached, Slamet Effendy Yusuf, chairman of the Wiranto-Solahuddin success team responds. "Yes it's valid. This report is from witnesses in the field," he says. Golkar provincial offices and local success teams had gathered the report from the various witnesses at the polling offices. Maybe Wiranto is satisfied with Slamet's explanation. He leaves smiling.
Up until last Saturday however, Wiranto's position had stagnated with 19.1 million votes. SBY-Jusuf Kalla had gained 29 million votes. Mega just happened to have gained 25.5 million votes. As it turns out, the 21% of vote obtained in the legislative election as well as the 11% from the Party of National Awakening (PKB) the party supporting Solahuddin could not be relied on. "It's what the people want, what else can one do?" exclaims Golkar deputy secretary general, Rully Chairul Azwar.
The "success teams" from around the areas may well become the scapegoats. "It isn't that we weren't serious, but the political machine was not fully used," says Soejatno Pedro H.D., a member of the Wiranto-Solahuddin success team in Central Java. The cause is obvious. The team had only worked for a month, following the end of Golkar convention in May. Plus, communication between the joint teams and Wiranto's team in the provinces did not appear to be too solid.
Consequently, the work of the team in the villages was not effective. The plan to win six million votes collapsed, as only 3.8 million were won as of last weekend. Not to mention the problem of tips. The team from the center distributed Rp 100 million for one public assembly. The plan was to run 12 programs or functions during the campaign. But Gokar and the PKB in Central Java, only "dribbled" Rp 40 million resepectively. As it turned out, every electorate had received Rp 1 billion from the DPR candidates at the time of the legislative elections. "Theen there is the matter of SBY's more interesting personality, " stated Soejatno Pedro.
Central Java also suffered from the discord between the Wiranto and Golkar teams. The two of them worked on their own without coordinating with one another. Hosilities in the Nahdlatul Ulama between Hasyim Muzadi and Abdurrahman Wahid also contributed significantly towards the lack of votes going to Wiranto in East Java, which is traditionally the home of the PKP party. PKB supporters who were supposed to back Wiranto, instead ran to SBY. "Gus Sholah is not a significant factor in East Java, says Golkar chairman in East Java, Ridwan Hisyam.
The Wiranto camp is not willing to concede that their policies are weak. A source close to Wiranto, Herman Ibrahim, feels that the political machine lost out to magic formulas. SBY's victory has been attributed to the excessive number of his commercials on television stations. But this doesn't mean that the political machine did not play a role . "Wiranto quite possibly didn't have the full support of Akbar Tandjung, " Herman Ibrahim states.
It is true that the vote count is not yet finalised. But for several presidential candidates, the provisional results are enough. PAN presidential candidate Amien Rais, is among those who have had to throw in the towel, since he won only 14.99% of the votes as of Saturday last week. "The public are ready for a change, " stated a close friend of Amien Rais, quoting the PAN chairman. He has already prepared a speech to accompany his defeat. The plan was, that this speech would be delivered last Friday, but people close to him however, asked that it be postponed until the percentage of votes counted reached 80%.
The speech will include a special thanks for the support given by the public, while simulatneously asking forgiveness for failing to repay the faith shown in him by supporters. Amien also hopes that the second round of the presidential election will run as smoothly as this first round . It's still uncertain, whether or not he will step down from the political arena after his defeat, as he had previously promised.
The same problems in the different areas, are the main cause of Amien-Siswono Yudho Husodo's defeat. They relied too heavily on the support of supporters from the time of the legislative elections. Head of Amien-Siswono's success team in Southern Sulawesi, Ramli Haba, had hoped to attain 35% of votes from the PAN party, Party of Justice and Prosperity (PKS) and six other parties propping up this pair. They placed in fourth positiion, well below SBY-Kalla. "Voters are still relating (more) to the actual candidate, " he states.
Still others are finding fault in the vote count tabulated by the KPU. Apart from Ramli, leader and shining light of the Amien-Siswono success team in Central Java and Yogyakarta, Taufik Kurniawan is also making an issue of the KPU's performance. Taufik complains about money politics, voting on folded ballot papers, ink quality and the lack of a system of information technology. But not all of of Amien's supporters got to be so emotional.
Sudibyo Markus, a member of Amien-Siswono's strategic team's policy council, thinks it has already been proven that the public are not open to "selling" clean figures or presidential candidates and slogans of reform. They now have other heros. "If they were happy with Superman in days gone by, then are n now opting for Spiderman," he says. PAN has not been particularly competitive and the newer parties were not dependable. They were champtions in the urban areas , rather than in rural areas.
Hopes for a full boost from Muhammadiyah members did not appear. The influence of religious organisations also doesn't extend beyond the urban areas. "Real support was not as strong, as that on paper, " says Sudibyo Markus.
Siswono blames the loss on the lack of funds which led to the party losing out in the advertising campaign. Their influence on the public had also clearly been weaker. Various polling, financed by foreign institutions before the elections have also been rated efective in swaying voteschoices. "The public didn't know whether it was research or public relations, " Siswono said.
By now, the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar ticket may have accepted defeat most graciously. With other success teams busy staring wide-eyed at the results, PPP (Hamzah's Unity and Develpopment Party) politicians were instead chatting in a room at the DPRD (provincial legislative councils) fraction in Central Java. "Rather than worry about the vote-count, it's better finish our work," says Achmad Munir Syafi'i, deputy head of the Central Java PPP . Secretary of the Hamzah-Agum success team, Masrukhan Samsurie is also taking a balanced view: "The main thing is we gave it our best." They're probably also hoping the winners don't crow.
Hamzah-Agum only got 2.6 millllion votes. Three months ago, the PPP, Hamzah's party , actually scored more than nine million (votes). "If they still liked him (Hamzah Haz), they would certainly have voted for him," said Masrukhan. After his defeat, he will reportedly be stripped of his party chairmanship through an extra-ordinary congress. PPP in Central Java are among those who have already passed a no-confidence motion to the party headquarters.
Two of Hamzah-Agum team success team, Arief Mudatsir Mandan and Abu Hazan Sazili however, contend that a lack of funds was the main problem for Hamzah. Choosing a vice-presidential running mate in such a short a time-frame did not leave much time for better work co-ordination. Moreover , no other parties were supporting Hamzah's nomination.
Party activists couldn't be relied on for donations, because they had already been spent to fund the previous legislative elections. "Pak Hamzah and Agum promised a certain amount of money, but it was never given , " he stated. Plans to get a minimum of Rp 100 billion only yielded Rp 6 billion. In the end, this `modestly-funded' campaign could only go to mosques, pesantrens (Islamic boarding schools) and market places.
The three presidential and vice-presidential candidates who lost out, are now throwing in their towels in defeat.
Jobpie Sugiharto, Sohirin (Semarang), Kukuh S.W. (Surabaya), Irmawati (Makassar), Hanibal W.Y.W., Widiarsi A. (Jakarta)
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