How would you translate the term "general election"
into Bahasa Indonesia?
The answer depends on how you define the word
"general".
Bagi orang awam -seperti saya-, "general" artinya
"umum", jadi "general election" artinya "pemilihan
umum" atau pemilu.
But how about if you define "general" as "jenderal"?
Therefore, "general election" can also be translated
as "pemilihan jenderal".
Tapi mungkin arti yang kedua inilah sebenarnya yang
pantas menggambarkan hasil "pemilu" di Indonesia.
Mungkin sebenarnya yang kita harus perhatikan di
percarturan politik di Indonesia adalah
Jenderal-Jenderal yang mempunyai keahlian politik yang
bergaya "Dalang" wayang kulit, yang bisa dan biasa
bermain di belakang layar, menurut Time Daily.
Kalau JFK Jr. meninggal dalam sebuah tragedy yang
mengikuti jejak ayahnya, paman-pamannya, dan tantenya
(yang meninggal dalam berbagai tragedies),
apakah bukan sesuatu yang mustahil bahwa karir Mega
Soekarno Putri juga akan berakhir mengikuti jejak
karir ayahnya (yang dijatuhkan oleh kudeta militer ala
"Jenderal-Jenderal Dalang" pada tahun 1965)?
salam
Ali Simplido
>From Time Daily:
In Indonesia, Election
Winner Could be a Loser
As the vote count proceeds at a glacial pace, the
military sounds a warning to politicians Indonesia is
famous for its shadow puppetry, and it’s an art form
in which the country’s politicians could be said to
excel. A day after the final results from the first
democratic elections in three decades were due, only
half the votes had been counted -- but it’s already
abundantly clear that the country’s next president
will not be chosen by the voters. Frontrunner Megawati
Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle
enjoys a solid lead with 36 percent of the vote, but
the ruling Golkar party is in second place with 18
percent -- and given a complex electoral system and
the strong showing of two opposition Islamic parties
who appear unwilling to back a woman for the top job,
the former dictator Suharto’s handpicked successor,
President B. J. Habibie, could still be reelected.
"It’s hard to pick a winner because the next president
will be chosen in backroom negotiations between the
parties and other power centers," says TIME
correspondent William Dowell. "What is clear, though,
is that it will be impossible to govern Indonesia
without an agreement that accommodates the views of
widely different parties."
The student protestors who brought down Suharto won’t
be happy if Megawati is denied -- and they were out on
the streets of Jakarta Tuesday to underline the point.
But they’re not the only show in town. Indonesia’s
military, which ordered Suharto to step down to end
last year’s social unrest, has made clear that it
won’t
stand for more political turmoil. "If each political
party continues to be headstrong in maintaining its
own interests, then there will always be political
unrest," armed forces commander General Wiranto told
reporters Tuesday. "The solution would be everyone’s
willingness to make sacrifices for... the nation and
country." The
military hasn’t yet indicated which candidate it would
prefer to see the politicians accept by way of
compromise. But it wouldn’t come as a total surprise
if they opted for one who didn’t actually run in the
election -- General Wiranto himself.
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