Mar 24 2009
Mental Hospital provides special wards for Indonesian politician candidates who get depression
It becomes a prediction that many of Indonesian politician candidates will get depression or mentally illness after the legislative general election on April 9. They can not bear the shame feelings caused by failure, and furthermore they have wasted a lot of money during the candidacy procress.
Based on mental tests in the psychiatric hospitals or health clinics, the potential of mental ilnness that can attack politician candidates is relatively high. As an aswer for this condition, some Mental Hospitals have been preparing their special wards for them.
Although the public campaign was just started on March 16, the politician candidates have started the competion since The General Election Commision (KPU) announced the temporary candidate list (DCS) nine months ago.
They have been competed long drawn out. They have been trying hardly to get people’s sympaty in order to get smoothly way to the representative house.
Moreover, they have to work harder this time because the competition now is more open than five years ago. Competition happens not only between parties but also occurs in the internal party, so the fund as the ‘nutrition’ takes very important role beside personality and popularity of candidates in their area.
The long period of competion potentially triggers mental illness. And also the limit of available seats in city/ district level of house representative only around 40 to 45 seats, while more than one thousand candicates have been struggling to get it.
If they are not strong enough mentally, depression will easily attack them. For instance in Ponorogo, East Java some time ago, the candidate of Regency Head who failed in election must be treated in the mental hospital due to severe depression.
The mental hospital Surakarta, Central Java has prepared nine special rooms with VVIP and VIP’s facilities. In those rooms are provided sofa, television, spring bed, freezer, refrigerator, AC, and bathroom. It also has a water park as a psychological therapy for patients.
The price of VVIP’s room is Rp 200,000 (about 20 USD) per day, and for VIP range from Rp 125,000 to Rp 150,000 per day (about 13 USD to 15 USD). The price includes treatment services and accommodation, but for medicine is excluded, patients have to pay extra for that. For support this new facilities, a number of special teams consist of psychotherapies and professional nurses have been established.
