I am writing this some time before 12 hours we, Indonesians, will get to see whoever will lead us as a nation in the next 5 years.
The choice could not be more in contrast of one another: one evokes fear, the other inspires hope.

Never before we experienced a presidential election filled with euphoria, excitement, panic, worry, yearning for overflowing creativity in arts, music, painting, photos, videos as displayed across every possible medium.
Television, internet, smartphone, social media platforms, newspaper, magazine, the media we’re exposed to in daily basis that form our opinion, thinking, and finally, choice.

If you’ve been through several elections in this country like me, since it was called General Election before it transformed to Legislative Election and Presidential Election as we’ve known for the past 15 years, we hardly cared about those election, save for political parties involved.
We hardly cared, because we had been trained to perceive things as they had been determined by the powers that be.
The fall of the regime brought us to realization that life could have been more dynamic without repression, yet it took us more than a decade after the fall to finally get one thing that makes a life worth living: hope.

The hope is written all over the campaign, in particular to a certain candidate.
It is amazing that the promise of hope can bring us the best in people, drive us to gather in a big stadium voluntarily as individuals, not political parties, bound together as a proud citizen who, finally, can see that there is a chance we get to see a regular man, like you and me, working together with us as a leader, inspire us, to build a better living for all.

By now, majority of us have made up our mind on our vote tomorrow.
And you are probably reading this while sitting up in anxiety, unable to rest before the new day begins.
Some have made effort to go home, some pledge to dress up to voting booth, and some are excited to collect perks for voters.
There is a genuine excitement to make the hope come true

I am writing this with smile.
It’s not just a smile of hope, but a smile of determination to create hope into a reality, starting with casting one vote for each one of us.

Because for the first time, we are heard.