The results of the Indonesian and Sri Lankan polls have sent ripples across the Indian Ocean, writes Gamal Nkrumah It has been six years since Suharto -- the General who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years -- was overthrown by people's power. Aged, ailing and haunted by corruption charges, Suharto is no longer a political force of any weight in Indonesia. Some are even not quite sure whether he is alive or dead. But Suharto's political legacy, the Partai Golongan Karya -- better known as Golkar -- surprisingly won the most seats in Monday's parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the daughter of Sukarno -- Indonesia's national liberation leader -- President Megawati Sukarnoputri is in an unenviable position. The death knell of her troubled presidency is sounding. She seems perpetually balanced on the knife-edge of difficult decisions. The world's most populous Muslim nation is displeased with its Western-style multi-party democracy, and with its soft and secular female president. It is not so much a nostalgia for the dreadful days of Suharto's dictatorship that has propelled Indonesians to hand the Golkar Party the most seats in the parliament, but rather a widespread disenchantment with the wobbly democracy that pays lip service to human rights but sanctions policies that have seen unemployment rates soar and living standards plummet. Sukarnoputri's Indonesia is a democracy that puts the United States' "war on terror" atop its agenda, while the vast majority of the Muslim masses of Indonesia eke out a meagre existence, suffering the ravages and indignities of poverty, joblessness and desperation that drive many to finding solace in religion, and in hoping for a better afterlife. As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, early indications signalled that Indonesia's 147 million-strong electorate delivered Sukarnoputri a cruel blow, threatening to ruin her chances of re-election in three months' time. With the surprise success of Golkar, the omens bode ill for Indonesia's president. As with her father's rival and successor, the Indonesian people in all probability will dump the president in the dustbin of history. The old guard is clearly giving way to new leaders in Indonesia. According to a parliamentary poll conducted in Cairo by the Indonesian Embassy among the 4,000-strong Indonesian community in Egypt who insisted that, even as expatriates, they exercise their democratic right to vote, Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chalked up a paltry 19 votes. Suharto's Golkar Party came out slightly better with 30 votes. The clear favourite among the Indonesian community in Egypt was the Prosperous Justice Party -- little known outside Indonesia itself -- which scooped 1,126 votes. The official results of the elections may not be released for several days. Indonesia's 220 million people are spread across 18,000 inhabited islands. The country is riddled with sharp contrasts and divisive contradictions: the Manhattan-style skyscrapers of Jakarta stand over sprawling slums which have grown side-by-side with the black economy. The disparities of income in the country are stark. Outlying islands are inhabited by indigenous groups living in Stone Age conditions, vying for survival against waves of newcomers from the densely populated western islands of Java and Madura. The country's large, restive and relatively prosperous Christian minority live in fear of a Muslim onslaught. The wealthy ethnic Chinese minority -- often branded as godless infidels and communists -- have long been accustomed to periodic pogroms, even when they have discarded their Chinese names and adopted Muslim ones. The dangers of ethnic and religious rioting are always lurking beneath the surface. The last incident of this kind took place during the ineffective, short-lived presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid, the former head of the highest Muslim authority in the country, Nahdatul Ulema. Fusing ancient Eastern traditions and Western concepts of human rights and of multi-party democracy, Indonesia's 24 national parties are struggling to win the hearts and minds of the masses. On Monday's poll, 450,000 candidates were competing for more than 14,000 national, provincial and local legislatures. Among those eyeing Sukarnoputri's position are former Suharto associates and fellow military strongmen such as Sisilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- an ex-General -- and Sukarnoputri's former security chief and founder of the Democratic Party. Also seeking to take over are retired General and Suharto's ex-son-in-law Prabowo Subianto and, worst of all, the notorious Wiranto, former Indonesian armed forces chief under Suharto's regime. United Nations prosecutors want Wiranto charged for genocide and war crimes committed against the East Timorese. Is the Indonesian electorate going to vote in the likes of Wiranto? We shall have to wait until July to find out. But for now, six years into Indonesian democracy, the country's population is sending a message to the outside world that it wants strong leaders -- even those in military fatigues and with bloodied hands. It seems that the Sri Lankans want the same. The Sri Lankan electorate rejected outgoing Prime Minister Wickramasinghe for being soft on the Tamils. The Tamils have signalled that they will resume fighting unless they are granted self-rule. Sri Lankans seem to prefer a strong and focussed leader like President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is calling the Tamils' bluff. In Sri Lanka, Kumaratunga's United Peoples Freedom Alliance won 46 per cent of the 2 April vote. Wickramasinghe's United National Party, which spearheaded peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil EALAM (LTTE), trailed behind with 38 per cent. The Tamil National Alliance got seven per cent and the Buddhist Party six per cent. The future of the two-year old Sri Lankan peace process now hangs in the balance. LTTE Chief Veluppillai Prabhakaran is no doubt disappointed with the poll results for they show that a majority of the island nation's main ethnic Sinhalese grouping view the Tigers with suspicion.
