This terrified the survey institutions, who had not anticipated such a response, so they swiftly washed their hands of the issue, hurriedly releasing “counter-surveys” stating that more than 70 percent of the Indonesian public rejected any postponement. The business actors spoke up, contradicting the claim made by Minister Bahlil that they stood in support of a delayed election. This revealed without a doubt that all opinions stating that the people supported a delay of the election were just one big fat lie.
This also demonstrates that the entire fancy of a postponed election notion is a major blunder that only served to tarnish the credibility of the Indonesian Government – nationwide and worldwide.
Third, the error in judgment did not just fade away decently. They doubled down. It got even worse. Airlangga and Luhut launched their maneuvers. Airlangga met with Surya Paloh, the General Chairman of the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) while Luhut, in an interview with Deddy Corbuzier, stated that he was attuned to the aspirations of the people, who favor a postponement.
They might be drunk with power, thinking that their political parties could ride roughshod over the Constitution – so what could the people do? They seemed to perceive the electorate as unworthy pebbles. Do they imagine the people’s sovereignty is nothing but imagination?
Alas, all this scheming ended in tears, because the people continued to fight and to resist. Six political parties heard the public’s desperate pleas and collectively declared their refusal to support a delay in the elections. They even went so far as to withdraw their support for amendments to the Constitution, concerned about trickery on the part of constitutional-coup intruders.