Some possible reasons that Afrizal Malna adapted William Shakespeare’s Hamlet into his play Hamlet Prior to the Elections include corruption and individual responsibility. In Hamlet Menjelang Pemilu: Petunjuk Petunjuk Menjadi Presiden (Hamlet Prior to the Elections: a Guide to Become a President), Malna provides a comparison between Denmark and Indonesia in the rampant corruption that can create a national crisis, and the challenges that individuals face when they try to transform societal institutions. Although the original, fictional Hamlet was a prince in a monarchy, the overall “rotten” situation in which he found himself resembled the instability that threatened late twentieth-century Indonesia.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet had been the heir apparent who was cheated out of his rightful inheritance after his father, King Hamlet, died. The king’s brother and young Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, usurped the throne. Despite the prince’s royal status and his personal motive of revenge, he also represents the ordinary people of Denmark, who deserve a legitimate government.

Manla changes the situation to an election and the quest of Hamlet, or Achmad, to a presidential campaign. In the late 1990s, Indonesia was preparing for its first open elections in fifty years. Challenging the unjust rule of a corrupt monarch remains an element of the modern play. The playwright delves into the harmful effects of a chaotic campaign with widespread conflicts among numerous political parties and candidates.