Whole villages no longer have to back the dominant party, writes Sander Thoenes Across the heartland of Java, home to more than half of Indonesia's 210m people, villagers almost unanimously admit they have no clue about the policies of the 48 parties competing for parliament in the June 7 vote.
But villagers interviewed had caught the drift of a series of slick television commercials, financed by the US Agency for International Development. Shot by the country's leading movie director, they show everyday Indonesians across the archipelago stressing the fact that they, for the first time in 44 years, are free to vote as they please.
"This time, we make our own choice," said Udi, a middle-aged farmer in Blanakan, northern Java. "We don't follow anyone's lead. When the village head tells me to choose one party or another, I just say no."
Only the vote count will tell how strong this sentiment is, but the times when government officials could cajole whole villages into voting for the dominant Golkar party are clearly past.
Volunteer election observers have accused Golkar of abusing government property for the campaign, but opposition leaders have been indifferent because they feel confident such tricks will not sway the voters.
Villagers interviewed proved remarkably aware that their village head, their teachers and other civil servants were banned from openly pushing any party. Most said the local bureaucrats had not even tried.
"In the past, the village was afraid of the village chief," said Matori Abdul Djalil, chairman of the National Awakening party (PKB), at the start of a campaign tour of central Java. "Now the village chief is afraid of the village. That's why most of them are neutral this time."
It does not follow that every Indonesian is able to make an informed choice, given the lack of substantive campaigning and limits of political awareness among the poor.
The forced neutrality of civil servants does not apply to thousands of kiai, Islamic teachers who run religious schools in even the smallest village and are asked for advice on everyday matters.
Long loyal Golkar supporters, they have switched en masse to Mr Matori's party because it is the official mouthpiece of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Moslem organisation.
"Now we choose for ourselves but we are poorly educated," said Imron, a rice farmer in Slijeg, northern Java. "We look to our leader for guidance. Our leader is the kiai."
Assuming this logic, Mr Matori confidently predicted that his party would win 30 per cent of the vote, adding that he expected a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP), of Megawati Sukarnoputri, to obtain a majority in parliament.
Further south, the hold of Nahdlatul Ulama is not nearly as strong, and the kiai operate in villages which for centuries observed a more nominal form of Islam that includes Hindu and Buddhist beliefs.
As in the last free elections, in 1955, many of these villagers intend to vote for the party most associated with the former president Sukarno, who held these beliefs high.
Luckily for Mr Matori's coalition plans, Ms Megawati is Mr Sukarno's daughter. Her party seems set to sweep Java's countryside, with PKB second and Golkar fourth, or, in many villages, not in the running at all.
That sweep may prove greater than shown by the polls because, when in doubt, Java's villagers go with the flow. "In our village, we pick whoever brings out the biggest crowds," said Suharyo, a trader in the hamlet of Gebus-Wetan. "In the past, that was Golkar. Now it's PDIP."