Democratic Party's Convention Shows Lack of Progress

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Convention has revealed a lack of progress amongst Indonesia's political parties, National University (Unas) sociologist Nia Elvina said here on Sunday.

"Most people consider the Democratic Party convention to be a learning process for democracy in our country. I think this is a fallacy. Instead, it is proof of the lack of progress within the party," she stated.

She added that the convention highlighted the lack of trust in the party, pointing to its rampant social oligarchy practices.

She noted that the convention's current practices in selecting a presidential candidate for their party ensured that the selected candidate would not be a "great figure" who could provide the leadership that Indonesia currently needs.

"(The convention) only volunteers rich people or representatives of merchants or capitalists," she claimed.

"Or the person selected will be very popular with the public," she added. (*/M038)