Bramantyo Prijosusilo – As the presidential hopefuls kick off their campaigns, it is time for "we the people" to contemplate our choices. Soon each of us will go to the polling booths to execute our constitutional rights and choose one of the three candidates, or alternatively, we can take the fourth option and elect not to choose.

With one pair of candidates promising a totally new "people's economy," another promising accelerated development and the incumbent and his running mate promising continuation, at face value it all seems straightforward. On the surface it seems that the choice will be between three different economic systems and development strategies.

However, if one were to look deeper into the claims of the candidates, one begins to sense that not all is exactly as it seems and that perhaps what first appears to be choices are not choices at all.

Take, for instance, Megawati and Prabowo's "people's economy." What does this mean? As the wealthiest of the candidates, Prabowo was born with a silver spoon. After being discharged from the military during the fall of his then father-in-law, Suharto, he became a businessman, and a very successful one at that. Currently he keeps a stable of dozens of horses, some of which reportedly cost up to Rp 3 billion ($297,000). Does he really expect people to believe he knows what it feels like for a family of three to survive on Rp 10,000 a day?

His campaign team was swift to say that these expensive horses have actually served the country, representing Indonesia in competitions and such, but surely there are other, more sensitive ways to boost Indonesia's standing in the world of sports.

One of Prabowo's businesses is palm oil and pulp, both of which are notorious for their environmental impact. Is he serious when he talks about sustainable agriculture? A respected economist has warned that this talk of a "people's economy" is risky and that there is a danger that the speaker will prove to be a demagogue who will whip up emotions and take us all for a roller-coaster ride.

Jusuf Kalla claims that he and Wiranto, the retired general, will accelerate development, but if the tragic violence surrounding the East Timor referendum and the horror of Jakarta in May 1998 are any indication of Wiranto's leadership skills, it is impossible to imagine him as anything but a handicap to accelerating development.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's slogan is "Continue!" and again it is not clear precisely what this means. His greatest economic achievement in the eyes of the man on the street was probably lowering fuel prices, but that was because of the fall of oil prices globally.

Surely, he doesn't mean that if he is given another term he will bring oil prices down again, when last year's price drops had nothing to do with him? However, his choice of Boediono as his running mate does allow for hope; at least this professor does know what he is talking about when he speaks of the economy. Thus, for "We the People" it might be safe to say that the incumbent's team offers the most hope, economically.

For those of us who are not squeamish about blood and oppression in our politics, this election is an exciting one, and there should be no problems in choosing the team to lead the country for the next five years. However, not all of us are comfortable with the idea of being responsible for electing a president who disregards human rights. If human rights are an issue, then this election poses a real dilemma, for not one team has a completely clean record.

Although the incumbent has an image of being rather more respectful toward human rights than his other ex-military opponents, Amnesty International reports that in the last year Yudhoyohno's Indonesia imprisoned 85 people for their political views.

News from Papua is rather scarce, but the impression we get from the eastern side of the nation is one of unrest and injustice. In Papua it is common for people to be killed by the state apparatus because of their political beliefs expressed in such peaceful ways as the raising of a flag.

Yudhoyono's reliance on the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which originated as secret cells designed from the blueprint of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, is a worry to many observers. To the disappointment of many supporters who wanted a truly Islamist party representing them, the power-hungry elite of the PKS have demonstrated that they are prepared to bend their Islamist principles to get a share of power.

This suggests that Islamism in the PKS elite is only skin deep, and when you look beneath the veneer of Shariah, their true colors are those of the chameleon. To the dismay of their supporters, they have acted in ways that portray the idea that they are prepared to use Islam for worldly gain, even to the extent of denying their Brotherhood roots when they see fit. However, many observers agree that if the PKS does get into power it will revert to its original platform of Islamism.

The attack by members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) on supporters of Pancasila last year, the support they received from mainstream politicians and the subsequent lenient sentences that were handed down to their leaders indicate just how fragile our pluralistic society is.

In this respect, it seems that only Megawati and Prabowo have declared their commitment to guarding the foundations of our state, for example with their promise of revoking the discriminative antipornography law, which was pushed through the legislature by the parties of Yudhoyono and Kalla last year.

On Kalla's new campaign team there are also such unsavory characters as Ali Mochtar Ngabalin, who has been recorded as saying the blood of people who are against the antiporn law is halal to spill.

On the issue of human rights some have suggested that we should vote for the candidates with the least problematic rights record. However, when one contemplates the principle that the oppression of one is the same as the oppression of the whole human race, it would be obvious that this presidential race will not bring about the changes "We the People" deserve. For that we might have to wait for the next generation.

Sadly, nearly all the younger politicians who are the next generation have unashamedly latched on to their seniors, proving that for them too, human rights matter little.

[Bramantyo Prijosusilo is an artist, poet and organic farmer in Ngawi, East Java.]