Indonesia’s ritual election
A GREEN-SHIRTED motorcyclist hurtles round a street corner in Jakarta. Standing on the pillion, a youth also in green waves a green flag. Behind them, in a horn-blaring, engine-revving convoy, follow dozens of motorcycles and open lorries packed with more green shirts, shouting support for their political party, the PPP (United Development Party). Some of them wear spectacles whose lenses are obscured with the party symbol, a star. Even some of the bike-riders cannot see where they are going.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Indonesia’s ritual election”
From the May 10th 1997 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Fathers are doing more child care in East Asia
About time, too
Ice Age antelopes surge back from the brink of extinction
Even better, these peers of sabre-toothed tigers can help with carbon capture
Indonesia’s Prabowo is desperate to impress Trump and Xi
The new president’s first foreign tour was a shambles
Is India’s education system the root of its problems?
A recent comparison with China suggests that may be so
Meet the outspoken maverick who could lead India
Nitin Gadkari, India’s highways minister, talks to The Economist
The Adani scandal takes the shine off Modi’s electoral success
The tycoon’s indictment clouds the prime minister’s prospects