Some of these are surprising, and very funny!
The Jakarta Post April 14, 2009 Prominent politicians shown door of the House... by celebrities Some of Indonesia's prominent politicians are likely to lose their seats at the House of Representatives, following quick count results showing they did not win enough votes to win seats in their areas. Unexpectedly, incumbent House Speaker Agung Laksono of the Golkar Party is one of the losers. A quick count by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) revealed that Agung's party - in his electoral district of Jakarta I, covering East Jakarta - only received 5,328 votes as of 11 p.m. Monday, or 5.99 percent of the votes. To secure a House seat in his area, a party would need at least 16.6 percent of votes cast. "Through the quick count we can see famous and prominent politicians are not even able to get in [into the House]," LSI analyst Burhanuddin Muhtadi told The Jakarta Post on Monday. "Given this, the Golkar Party will probably not win any House seats from the Jakarta I electoral district," he added. According to the LSI, low voter turnout and new election mechanisms have helped lead to less votes for some prominent politicians. Other prominent figures who may be thrown out of the House include Priyo Budi Santoso, the Golkar faction chairman. Golkar only earned 8.64 percent of votes in his electoral district in East Java I, covering Surabaya and Sidoarjo, where winning a House seat requires at least 12.5 percent of votes. Faced with such trends, Burhanuddin predicted that many new faces could win House seats and therefore would be expected to contribute to a new House style. "We have found that several celebrities like Rieke Dyah Pitaloka from the PDI-P [the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle] and Nurul Arifin of Golkar are likely to secure seats since they both won significant numbers of votes," he said. "Suprisingly, Rieke managed to defeat Taufik Kiemas in winning votes in West Java," he added, referring to the husband of former president and PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Despite their lack of political experience, celebrities are more popular with voters than politicians, Burhanuddin said. "These politicians were not known in their own electoral districts, although they may be famous in Jakarta and the media," he added. However, Burhanuddin said, it would be a huge loss for the country as some of the losing politicians were smart and capable people. "They also have experience in making laws," he added. To avoid such a loss of prominent experienced politicians in the future, Burhanuddin suggested that politicians should build more solid relationship with their constituents in their respective electoral districts. "In previous elections, people voted for political parties, which then appointed their members to sit in the House," he said. "But today, they voted for their representatives directly." (naf) Politicians likely to be ousted from House of Representatives Party Names Golkar Agung Laksono Priyo Budi Santoso Ferry Mursyidan Baldan Heppy Bona Zulkarnaen National Mandate Party (PAN) Abdillah Toha Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Mahfud Siddiq United Development Party (PPP) Suryadharma Ali Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle Heri Ahmadi (PDI-P) Peace Prosperous Party (PDS) Royandi Hutasoit Satrio Arismunandar Executive Producer News Division, Trans TV, Lantai 3 Jl. Kapten P. Tendean Kav. 12 - 14 A, Jakarta 12790 Phone: 7917-7000, 7918-4544 ext. 4034, Fax: 79184558, 79184627 http://satrioarismunandar6.blogspot.com http://satrioarismunandar.multiply.com Verba volant scripta manent... (yang terucap akan lenyap, yang tertulis akan abadi...) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
