Indon Election

asantosa SG

Well, how about his vice president Jusuf Kalla?
Heard that chinese community in indonesia are worried about him.

b3nd d0wn SG

Well, i read from http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20040818.E03 that he prefers bumiputera businessman to chinese businessman. Maybe that is what you mean?

The chinese still controls much of business activity and some degree of power in Indonesia, it will be hard to surpress them anyway. The economy may be disrupted should he do that. The government sure does not want another exodus of Chinese communty's fund overseas, as what happened in 1998.

On the other hand, jusuf kalla should not be a problem.
Although he was a former Golkar member and also linked to NU (indo's largest Islamist organisation), he has experience in business & trade sector.

robertteh SG

Do you mean some central control system or dictatorship under Macos or any other pseudo-democracy with immerging of controls would have done better for Philippines ?

Do you mean that some great communitarian democracy (not sure this type can be termed democracy) or other centrally controlled system, will excel as compared with democratic system?

I have answered to such queries posed by pro-control critics (also anti-democracy critics) that democracies such as Taiwanese and Philippines are having problems.

The fact that such countries are experiencing problems with democracy due to certain shortcomings or problems of implementation does not establish your criticism against democracy or liberal democracy.

Selective comparison that Philippines does not do well in democracy does not lead to the conclusion democracy has failed as such or is less desirable or that there are better systems.

It is noted that critics of democracy have been claiming that western democracy was not suitable for certain countries for various reasons but they so far cannot deny that many countries are trying to take that route.

Democracy on the other hand has been used for control to suit individuals are obvious leading to chaos or serious problems. Wise leaders of any such pseudo-democracy will need to do something to tamper and change the harshness of control rules before causing more problems.

Indonesia is right to take the path of democracy. It will take time and patience as Rome was not built in one day. Ultimately, democracy will provide better answer to people's aspirations or needs as under controls system under any kinds of guises, there will be collapses.

Critics of democracy so far could not answer my repeated requests to propose a model or system that is more desirable under any particular circumstance or prove there democracy does not work but had only continue to make selective comparisons to suit their criticism of democracy.

If there is any non-democratic system or communitarian democracy (not proven to be democracy) that do better that can be upheld as model or preferred to provide for better governance or stability, let the critics propose the model.

Without answering my two questions, and by continuing to harp heritage or contextural or contingent system, critics of democracy are getting nowhere.

Finally, if you want to insist that democracy has failed or is undesirable for Philippines or Singapore, please do a total comparison of all performances between democratic and non-democratic (including sprouts of purported democratic copies) systems so that comparisons will be more objective. Have you tried to do this exercise so far?

FireIce SG

from STI

JAKARTA (Indonesia) - Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took an unassailable lead on Thursday in Indonesia's presidential elections, official data showed, as the defeated incumbent president prepared to make her first public address since the polls.

With 104 million of the estimated 120 million votes counted, Mr Bambang had 61 per cent to President Megawati Sukarnoputri's 39 per cent, according to the General Election Commission.

Despite this, Ms Megawati said she would not concede until official results were announced. That is scheduled to take place on Oct 5, but given the quick pace of vote counting could happen earlier. Mr Bambang said he would not formally claim victory until the tally was complete.

Ms Megawati was scheduled to deliver an accountability speech to Indonesia's top legislative body, the People's Consultative Embassy, later on Thursday.

The speech, which has been long scheduled, will be the taciturn leader's first public appearance since Monday's election, which passed off peacefully and has been free of allegations of irregularities.

Mr Bambang has not left his house on the outskirts of Jakarta, where aides say he is considering possible Cabinet lineups and new government policies, since the ballots were cast.

Analysts have called on him to move quickly to establish his reformist credentials and reassure the business community by naming a new attorney general and finance minister.

Indonesia is saddled with almost 40 per cent unemployment and rampant corruption, and has been hit by three terror attacks by Al-Qaeda linked militants in the past two years. -- AP

Qitai SG

Robert: I am sick of hearing all the excuses. The fact, regardless of the actual reason, the countries who listen to USA and goes into a rush for democracies did not exactly became better in the end. I do not think democracy is bad, but just sick of the endless promotion of democracy from you. And I am never a fan of USA type of democracy. You can go back to your democracy thread to discuss that.

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