16 April, 2009

Indonesia: Defeat Leaves Many Candidates Distressed

Indonesia: Defeat Leaves Many Candidates Distressed
By Mohd Nasir Yusoff

JAKARTA, April 15 (Bernama) -- The just concluded Indonesian election has left many defeated candidates in anguish, with many of them unable to accept their losses.

The Indonesian media reported tales of defeated candidates experiencing mental breakdown soon after the election on April 9.

One of the reports was about a woman candidate who was found dead in West Java yesterday.

The media speculated that the 23-year-old housewife could have taken her own life as she could not bear the embarrassment of losing in the election.

Another candidate, who contested in West Kalimantan, died on Monday night several hours after following the vote-counting process while another candidate died in Central Java due to a heart attack a day earlier.

Apart from having to content with their defeat, many candidates were also facing other predicaments as some of them had gone for broke in financing their campaign.

According to the Tempointeraktif website, nine candidates were sent for psychiatric treatment at the Wisma Rehabilitasi in Karanganyar, Central Java.

The centre's chief Supono Mustajab said the candidates were in extreme shock over the defeat and could not accept the fact that they had lost in the election despite having spent a huge amount of money to run their campaign.

The Kompas website reported that a mental hospital in Palangkaraya was treating two candidates who lost in the election and three others who were party supporters.

"The losses have not only come down heavily on the candidates but also their supporters and relatives," the hospital's chief, Wineini Marhaeni Rubay, was quoted as saying.

There were also reports of defeated candidates attempting to recover items such as television sets, musical instruments, mattresses and other items which they had donated during the campaign.

Another candidate was reported to have close a school and cut off the water supply from a well and prohibited the public from using the road that was passing through his land.

-- BERNAMA

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