Despite repeated assurances by the General Elections Commission (KPU) that preparations for the 2014 legislative elections are on track, public confidence in the KPU was dealt another blow this week when it was reported that in several regions hundreds of ballot boxes used in the 2009 elections (Pemilu 2009) have been left out in the open due to

Smoke reads: Natural disasters, volcanic eruptions, flash floods, politics, corruption, Constitutional Court bribes, Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator bribery, political parties, election witness fees...

Sign reads: 2014 Festival of Democracy (2014 legislative and presidential elections)

Man: It’s a level 3 alert!

Price list reads: Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) 100 million rupiah, House of Representatives (DPR) 200 million, Regent 300 million, Governor 500 million, President 1 billion

The political parties (parpol) are drooling at the mouth at the prospect of siphoning off billions of rupiah for their electoral campaigns after a controversial decision by the government to allocate 1.5 trillion rupiah (US$123 million) towards election witness fees (dana saksi) for the April 9 legislative elections.

Text reads: Presidential Candidate (Golkar’s Aburizal Bakrie), Politician, Legislative Candidate, Politics (President Yudhoyono)

With many senior government officials vying with each other to be nominated by the major political parties as presidential candidates (Capres) and more than 90% of lawmakers running as legislative candidates (Caleg) in the April general elections, the political elite have all but abandoned the pretence of trying to run the country.

Man: Ahh, all that’s changed is the year and they’ve gotten older...

Caleg: It’s also changed my fortunes!

Man: Please, go ahead Mr...

Man: Look out Mr!

Jakarta – Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad, Green Berets) commander Lieutenant General Gatot Nurmantyo has expressed doubts about the current course of democracy.

Kid: For the convention test: Tempeh made from peanut and soybean residue... they’re fond of that right Mr?

Man: Authentic soya sauce yeah Mr? (bottle reads ‘The No 1 Authentic Soya Sauce’, badge reads ‘Presidential Candidate’)

Kid: But soybeans are scarce and expensive!

Jakarta – The long fight to uncover and moreover reconcile the 1965-66 affair is slowly starting to show results. Still needed of course is hard work and a readiness on the part of several parties to uncover the truth and come to terms with the facts of the affair.

Sherr Rinn – Between 2010-12 there was an awakening of the Indonesian labour movement that can be seen in the writings of people such as Danial Indrakusuma, Rahmat, Tarikh, Hidayah and Rekomendasi.

Yogyakarta – “Self-determination, the Democratic Solution for the Papuan People”, shouted West Papuan students protesting the New York Agreement of August 15, 1962, and supporting the opening of a Free West Papua Campaign office in the Netherlands today, during an action coordinated by the Papuan Student Alliance (AMP) on Thursday August 15 in t

Man: His smile helps wash away...

Jakarta – More than half of voters are confused about the current political situation. A survey by the Soegeng Sarjadi School of Government indicates that as many as 51.45 percent of respondents have yet to make their choice of political party. Yet the 2014 legislative and presidential elections are less that a year away.

Jakarta – Labour observer Professor Dr. Payaman Simanjuntak has warned that a number of trade unions in Indonesia are being provoked by international trade unions, primarily from European countries and the United States, to challenge employers and the government by means of strikes.

Mirror reads Conscience of the People, badge reads Presidential Candidate, can reads BALSEM.

Jakarta – The political system in Indonesia is controlled by a capitalist oligarchy. This group represents a handful of individuals who use material power to determine political policies and the election of public officials.