Thousands of flag-waving Indonesians took to the streets of Jakarta yesterday as the country kicked off the campaign for its first democratic election in 44 years with a grand parade of the 48 competing parties.
In a carnival atmosphere, supporters toured the capital for hours. Mr Jimmy Carter, the former US president, dubbed the June 7th ballot the most important in the world this year because it should complete the transformation of a military-dominated dictatorship into the third largest democracy on earth.
What is at stake for the 130 million eligible voters is not the promises of future freedom and prosperity. Indonesians, after enduring the oppressive "guided democracy" of founding president Sukarno and 32 years of dictatorship under General Suharto, are facing a much simpler choice.
Indonesia's political landscape underwent its most radical shift ever last May when Mr Suharto was forced to resign amid widespread social unrest and economic turmoil. His successor, Mr B.J. Habibie, was able to stem the demands for reform only by promising a free and fair general election.
According to polls, the tide is turning in favour of the reform camp. To build on this momentum, three of the strongest opposition parties - the Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle (PDIP), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) - formed a coalition on Monday to present voters with a united front against Mr Habibie and the Golkar party.
David Shanks adds:
In spite of a United Nations presence in East Timor the level of atrocities by drug-crazed pro-Indonesian militias is "worse than previously known" according to Catholic church and other sources. Reports suggest an atmosphere of terror in which, as Bishop Carlos Belo said this week, the conditions for a free and fair August 8th referendum on autonomy/independence do not exist.
Yesterday a passionate call was made to increase the "woefully inadequate" number of UN police. The Washington-based Humanitarian Project on East Timor, an organisation in touch with Catholic sources in the Indonesian occupied territory, spoke of reports that identification of bodies was often impossible because they were fed to crocodiles and pigs. The situation was one of "utmost horror", it said.
About 40 killings have been reported over the past week. But the Humanitarian Project said: "Church sources stress that about 500 young people have been killed by militias over the past three months in one area of East Timor alone."
There are also reports of up to 35,000 refugees, mostly women and children, living in "appalling conditions and urgently in need of assistance".