Observers say that without the vote pulling appeal if its patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – who is not be eligible to run for the presidency again – the Democrat Party vehicle will find itself in the political doldrums come the 2014 general elections.
Drunken Republic Cartoons
May 2010
1st Man: Now we’re free from terrorism
2nd Man: Free? Are you kidding?
Government official: Up for auction, up for auction...
Man: Ooo... So it’s worth as much as that...
Man: In just a moment we will witness the comic play Gecko vs the Crocodile Part II... staring: Godzilla the case broker!!
Sign reads: Republic of clowns
April 2010
High school graduate: I passed honestly...
Man: So later if you become a government official you’ll still be like that right?
Sleeve reads: Vested interests. Cap reads: Public Order Agency.
Man: In this case right, the common people are being played off against each other.
Kid: What says the world?
After the darkness let the light appear... but it’s getting dark again Sister...
Document: Child rape, domestic violence, migrant worker sexual abuse...
Kid: This scandal, that scandal, there’s no end to it... so what’s the broad national development program Sir?
Politician (chair reads “Republic of Clowns”): Build as maaaaany prisons as possible.
Farmers: Sir, our rice harvest has failed and we’re threatened with starvation...
Politician: My position is also under threat, don’t you know!
Sign: Sumba, NTT. Envelope: Corruption suspect
Anti-graft activists say that the root cause of most poverty, hunger and suffering in East Nusa Tenggara is rampant corruption.
Words on tree: KKN – Collusion, corruption and nepotism
1st Man: It’s really flourishing.
2nd Man: What is?
Smart people (don’t) pay tax
Smart people (corrupt) tax
Smart people (collude to avoid) tax
Smart people (do shady deals) tax
Smart people (embezzle) tax...
Kid: So only stupid people pay tax, right Dad? What says the world!
Kid: Why are they running around naked and exposing each other! That’s porno right Dad? What must the world be saying?
March 2010
Hello hello Bandung, city of memories, long has it been since I last visited you, now you have become a sea of flood, brothers let us replant.
(Adapted from the 1945 revolutionary song Hello Hello Bandung by Ismail Marzuki)
1st Man: Soccer hooligan mania, corruption mania, mafia mania, case broker mania, it’s all just the same...
2nd Man: The same, how so?
1st Man: They’re all wreaking the country.
Kid: After the reality shows on TV, the gang fights, the Century uproar, then terrorism, what’s next dad?
Man: Why do you care so much? What’s important is scratching out a living! Get it?
Man pushing shopping trolley (reading Modern Markets): You sell I buy.
Traditional kiosk and market traders say that the government has been inconsistent with Presidential Decree No 112/2007 on the protection of traditional markets with the rapid and uncontrolled growth of modern markets in urban centers driving them out of business.
Background: House of Representatives building.
Kid: Hey Mr... if you want to horse trade, why not just go to the livestock market?