Or read - going maniacal. I can never speak sanely whenever I spoke about politic... but what can I do? Politic's nuts!
Anyway, before I start rambling and getting beside the point, I just wanna say that anybody considering AMIEN RAIS as the next president is well, to put it plainly, an idiot.
What d'you see of this guy anyway? He's the one to bustle in first to acclaim the victory over the bad guys - doing nothing meanwhile. It disgusted me completely to see how he rushed to comfort "friends" at the wake of May 12 Tragedy, back in '98.
He wasn't anywhere near when the bullets started raining, people! He named himself the Hero of Reformation but frankly I'd never heard anything of his so-called struggle against the New Order, prior to those days after May Tragedy.
I was and still am a fan of GUS DUR and I was a bit peeved at the time he was forced down the presidential throne, especially 'cause Mister-I'm-The-Good-Guy was the one behind Gus Dur's downfall. I remember being extremely outraged at some comments he thrown out about my darling (tee hee...) but then again, what can I say? Politic's sure dirty.
And then, what d'you know? When Rais' party came out the last of the seven who could register a presidential candidate, he quickly join forces again with Gus Dur (whose party was one of the best five). I threw up when I saw the picture of him, Gus Dur and Hidayat Nur Wahid linking arms for the press. Jeez, what an opportunist.
What amazes me still is how people can still harbor hope upon such person. Bleargghhh.
A local TV station once polled up people's comments about whom they're going to choose for President. It was quite a small-scaled poll and the interviewees were mostly street vendors. One middle age woman declared she might go for SBY, dismissing Rais as someone who, "..talks too much but do nothing."
Adding to that, I once took a cab and found that the driver was quite keen in talking about politics. (In fact, most of them are!) Politics are sensitive topics and you need to know where your fellow conversationer stands before you start spilling out your guts, so I tried keeping it neutral but once he got into gear, the taxi driver started speaking animatedly until he got into complaining and guess who was it he defamed?
None other than our beloved Mr Rais. And frankly, I didn't disagree.
Anyway, there's too much to talk about the politics world in Indonesia - if I'd had training as an editor, I'd write a book about it now. 1998 alone would make a very good book, alas, a serious one.
But nothing beats the days preceding this year's PEMILU of course - it could probably beats Dave Barry's Greatest Hits!