‘Goats For Votes’ Pays Off In Indonesia

Call the election strategy one of “Goats for Votes.”

In this island archipelago where expectations remain modest, voters can still be swayed with the promise of a goat, a water buffalo or a small motorbike.

Not so strange, really, when you recall that Chicago’s Jane Byrne once handed out canned hams to residents of Chicago public housing units and that any precinct captain or ward boss worth a Regular Democratic machine party card is happy to fix a curb, plant a tree or give a ride to the polls at election time.

Such thinking certainly inspired Serang city Gov. Sukron Roshadi. And, as it turned out, Roshadi was right.

As a man loyal to the regime of President Suharto, the governor promised to donate three goats to every polling place that scored a 100 percent ballot return for the ruling Golkar party in last week’s voting.

To make sure of a huge turnout in the party’s favor, Roshadi also publicly offered three water buffaloes to every subdistrict with a 95 percent pro-Golkar tally and three motorbikes to every district that brought in a 90 percent ballot for the party that has rubber-stamped Suharto’s wishes for more than three decades.

In Carenang district alone, 20 polling stations reported a 100 percent vote for Golkar. Four villages also said not a single vote went to the opposition.