Despite warnings from police that Jakarta might face election riots, today’s vote seems to have gone quietly in the city, with all exit polls showing incumbent president SBY giving the competition a solid trouncing.
A man shows his inked finger — proof he voted in today’s presidential election — as he leaves a polling station in Jakarta.
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Jakarta.
Irham, JakartaBush has never been a popular figure in Indonesia — a Muslim country with a strong history of anti-imperial struggle (notwithstanding of course, its own colonial adventures in East Timor and Papua) — and his re-election ensured that dislike of Bush would extend to the American people.
Recently, though, it’s once again become cool to be American. “From Amerika? Barack Obama, Ya!”
What can I do but smile and shrug my shoulders?