Jakarta – With the results of vote counting trickling in from across the nation many former legislative candidates have begun showing symptoms of stress and depression upon learning of their poor performance in the recent legislative election; some have even resorted to suicide.
The Center for Social, Narcotic and Mental Rehabilitation in Bungkanel, Karanganyar, Central Java, has admitted nine former legislative candidates exhibiting signs of mental disorders.
"The nine patients are from West and East Java. Sorry, it is unethical for us to give their identity," Supono Mustajad, director of the center, said Wednesday, as quoted by Antara.
Supono said several patients frequently talked in their sleep, asking for their money back because of their failure to gain a significant number of votes. "One patient wants to be nudist and another one keeps silent with horrifying visions," he said.
The center has 25 rooms with star rated hotel facilities and employs 11 doctors, including two psychiatrists.
The rate of occupancy at a psychiatric hospital in Surakarta has doubled from an average of 100 patients per day before the polls to 200 per day since the election.
The hospital's spokeswoman, Diah Sri Mawarti, however, declined to confirm or deny the admission of former candidates, saying the hospital did not make any distinction between politicians and other patients.
"They came here without any political attributes and they were identified based on their identity cards, not their status," she said.
Meanwhile, Kristofel Max, a Golkar Party legislative candidate who was running for a seat on the Kupang City Council in East Nusa Tenggara, is in critical condition at W.Z. Yohannis General Hospital after he was involved in a motorbike accident. The patient is suffering from a fractured neck and serious injuries to his face.
He admitted he was driving his motorcycle at a high speed after learning of his poor performance in the election. He said he borrowed a lot of money to finance his political campaign. "I spent too much but gained less because they [voters] did not vote for me," he said.
Dani, a nurse at the hospital, said the patient was suffering from major stress which led him to ride his motorcycle recklessly, causing a collision with an oncoming car.
More severely, Efrizal, a legislative candidate of the National Front Party (Barnas) in South Aceh, died of a heart attack in a hospital in Tapaktuan shortly after learning of his low vote tally. Chairman of the local chapter of Barnas, Zumardi, denied reports that the death was linked with election results.
Srihayati, a former legislative candidate from the National Awakening Party (PKB), committed suicide in Bangunjaya village, Langkaplancar, Ciamis, West Java. She received just 12 votes in the village.
Earlier in the week, two legislative candidates in Bali and Semarang died of heart attacks after vote counting at polling stations.
Nationwide, upwards of 1 million people from 38 national parties and six local parties in Aceh contended for a limited number of seats in provincial, regency and municipality legislatures, as well as the Regional Representatives Council and the House of Representatives. Each of them spent at least Rp 500 million (US$46 million) from their own pockets or bank loans to finance their campaigns.
Like many other former candidates, Yuniar, who was running for the Golkar Party in West Java, asked residents of Pasirjaya village in West Bogor district to return bank deposits worth Rp 50,000 each that he had given them, as he gained just one vote in the village.
A legislative candidate of the Democratic Party in Palembang similarly asked a group of Muslim women to return a set of Qasidah musical instruments she given in exchange for votes, as she failed secure a seat in the district.
[Yemris Fointuna contributed to this story from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.]