TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Regular users of The Hague’s Tram 17 might have raised their eyebrows on Saturday, as the streetcar was packed almost the whole day with Indonesians going to and from the city’s train stations to an event hall in neighboring Rijswijk. Four days prior presidential and parliamentary voting in Indonesia, many Indonesians living abroad – including thousands in the Netherlands – have casted their votes for their home country’s presidential and parliamentary elections.

“We have been preparing this for the past year,” said Indonesian Ambassador for the Netherlands Mayerfas to Tempo, pointing out that the Netherlands has the most Indonesian residents in Europe.

Close to 4,400 Indonesians – from students to pensionados - voted in Rijswijk on Saturday, according to The Hague Overseas Voting Committee (PPLN) Spokesperson Irfan Fadillah. “This is not including those voting by mail, as we are still waiting for some to arrive from all over the country,” Irfan told Tempo by WhatsApp on Sunday. The numbers are well below the some 13,000 expected voters estimated by the Indonesian Embassy.

Entrance of the voting venue in Rijswijk, the Netherlands on Saturday, February 10, 2024. Photo: Linawati Sidarto

While the political temperatures in Indonesia are slowly rising in the past few days with student demonstrations in a number of cities, none of that was felt in the 7,500-square-meter Rijswijk event hall. Voters took along family and friends to enjoy the bazaar filled with Indonesian eateries, products, and live music in the same venue that day. “We wanted today to also be a celebration,” said Mayerfas. Dressed casually in a white shirt and a grey jacket, the ambassador was present from morning till closing time in the early evening to greet and chat with fellow Indonesians, some of whom had to travel three hours to get to the venue. Irfan said that the number of people at the voting venue was close to 7,500 people.

While it still took voters an average of two hours from the first registry to exiting the polling booths, with some complaining about the over-crowded bazaar, Saturday’s event was a big improvement from the previous elections five years ago. The 2019 general elections were held at the much smaller Indonesian School in The Hague, where voters had to queue for hours in the open air during a particularly chilly day in April. The polling venue on Saturday was indoors, with plenty of space and chairs.

Even though many conversations focused on which stall had the best dishes, politics was also a topic of discussion. Voters seem firm in their choice of candidates. Javier, a recent university graduate who is working in Amsterdam, said that he voted for the Prabowo-Gibran Rakabuming Raka ticket because he believes they will continue the path of the current government. Via, a graduate student in Political Science from Amsterdam and also a Prabowo-Gibran voter, pointed out that Prabowo “carried out orders from his superiors” when asked if she had any problems with Prabowo’s alleged human rights abuses during the May 1998 unrests that led to the fall of President Suharto. “If you read up on that period, he (Prabowo) may not be as bad as some people say.”

Via’s standpoint is firmly contradicted by Sita, a law graduate who has lived in the Netherlands for over two decades. Sita voted for Ganjar-Mahfud “as they seem to be the least of all possible evils.” Anies-Muhaimin seem too polarizing, she said, while choosing Prabowo “would be like going back to the New Order Regime (of Suharto). Why would we want that?” Meanwhile, an Amsterdam housewife who declined to be named said that she cast her vote for Anies-Muhaimin “as they seem to care about the common people.”

LINAWATI SIDARTO

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