VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Here are the Headlines of several national newspapers published today, June 28, 2018.

We begin with Kompas entitled, "More Matured Democracy."

The simultaneous regional election on Wednesday (27/6) indicated that democracy in Indonesia got more matured. This was seen from the post-voting situation which was relatively secure; as well as the results in some regions which showed that voters considered more the capability and track record of the candidates, instead of their political relation. Still, some issues happened in the 2018 Regional Election. From 171 regions, two failed to have election for regent due to security issues, namely Nduga and Painai, both in Papua Province. The two regencies’ General Election Commission (KPU) will hold voting later. Issues also happened in other places, yet not that massive. For instance, voting in 10 polling stations across Morowali, Central Sulawesi was hampered by flood.

Besides that, some other surprises happened. From the quick count, incumbent candidate Agung Syahri Mulyo got more votes in Tulungagung, East Java despite he is currently being held by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for some infrastructure project corruption cases. However at the same time, from 16 single candidate pairs in this year's regional election, one was defeated by empty box in Makassar city, South Sulawesi. They are Munafri Arifudin & Andi Rahmatika Dewi. On that, Indonesian Institutes of Science (LIPI) senior researcher Syamsudin Haris in Jakarta, Wednesday (27/6) said, the voters got more critical; they used common sense and got more autonomous in deciding. This condition, according to Haris, was a good sign for democracy in Indonesia.

Moving on to Tempo entitled, "Figure Strength Decides."

More than half of this country's citizens had chosen their regional leaders yesterday. Quick count results by various institutions showed that figure decides the voting, instead of political parties. Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) Executive Director Kuskrido Ambardi yesterday (27/6) said, political parties with dominant votes in several regions were proven losing. Ridwan Kamil in West Java for example, defeated his competitors which was supported by Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) - the most voted party during 2014 Legislative Election in the province. The PDIP voters chosen Ridwan Kamil instead of Tubagus Hasanuddin.

Executive Director of Indonesian pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia, Burhanuddin Muhtadi had similar opinion with Kuskrido Ambardi. Burhanuddin said, three big parties namely National Awakening Party (PKB), PDIP, and Gerindra Party failed to make Saufulah Yusuf & Puti Guntur Soekarno as governor and deputy governor of East Java. Meanwhile, Emil Dardak - former Trenggalek regent, who accompanied governor candidate Khofifah Indar Parawansa, was seen more experienced to manage the region instead of Puti - member of House of Representatives. As deputy governor, Emil Dardak is a better vote-maker than Puti. PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristianto also did not deny the figure factor in regional election.

We end the Headlines with Bisnis Indonesia entitled, "Strong Capital Maintains Economy."

Contestation onregional election without problem is expected to return national business climate and investment spirit which temporarily stopped due to wait and see move of the businesspeople and investors. Despite waiting for the poll recapitulation by General Election Commission KPU, quick counts by some survey institutions were enough to describe the winning map of the candidate pairs. Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD) Executive Director Robert Endi Jaweng said, realizing a peaceful, safe, and smooth regional election was not easy. Therefore, the success in having the simultaneous democratic festivitymust be appreciated, because it showed that the development of our democracy was more mature. Compared to the previous regional election, Robert said, Indonesia had leveled up, because the political elites and the people became more matured in voting.