Raucous Indonesia rolls to the polls
By Patrick Guntensperger
JAKARTA - With its crumbling infrastructure, lack of a reliable mass transit
system, and labyrinthine urban geography, Indonesia's capital of Jakarta was
already plagued with some of the worst traffic conditions in the world. As
political parties' roll out their spirited campaigns ahead of next month's
legislative elections, Jakartans are girding themselves for more gridlock.
The campaigns are an emerging democratic ritual that seem to assume the greater
inconvenience inflicted on voters, the more electoral support a candidate will
win.
The election campaigns, which are characterized by raucous rallies, corteges of
motorcyclists bearing party banners and lively
speeches given by candidates' supporters, are failing to address the nation's
substantive policy issues. The politics of personality and pomp are among the
signs of Indonesia's political immaturity, despite nearly a decade of
democratic rule and process.
For the country's 38 national political parties, campaigns are a combination of
an extended party and an opportunity to make some money. In an effort to
bolster their apparent grassroots popularity, parties routinely hand out party
T-shirts along with an envelope containing Rp20,000 (US$17.50) to those who are
willing to chant the party slogan, brave the ire of frustrated commuters, and
wave flags in the windscreens of gridlocked vehicles. Savvy campaigners can
attend several of these events in a single day, if several parties have
"impromptu" rallies scheduled.
These events are also the venues where the terms and conditions of traditional
vote-buying are laid out by campaigners. Election monitors in the past have
noted that while accepting money to vote for a particular candidate is
commonplace, vote-buying has had little impact on the actual electoral outcome,
as voters sometimes accept money from different candidates and trust the
privacy of the voting booth to cast their ballots as they see fit.
This year, however, the proliferation of communications technology has added a
new wrinkle to the process. At certain key polls, vote-buyers are expected to
provide bribed voters with a cellphone or digital camera to take into the
polling station and will only pay when the image of a correctly filled out
ballot is displayed. One political organizer was heard by this correspondent
lamenting that such steps were necessary "to keep people honest".
The incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party kicked off
its campaign on March 20. With nearly 90% of the population adhering to Islam,
Fridays always generate appalling traffic conditions in Jakarta, as literally
millions of the faithful attempt to head to mosques for afternoon prayers. This
past Friday, the Democrat Party held its first major rally at Bung Karno
Stadium in Senayan in Central Jakarta, adding to the human crush.
The rally, at which several of the country's most popular bands performed and
attracted a crowd estimated at over 100,000 people, plunged the surrounding
area into complete gridlock and chaos. This was despite the fact Yudhoyono, who
has cut two albums of saccharine love songs, failed to croon on stage. The
Democrat Party was not restricted to the stadium, however. At other key traffic
bottlenecks, groups of several dozen motorcyclists, often two or three per
vehicle, blitzed the stationary cars - their tiny motors revving - waving
banners and chanting "SBY", as the president is popularly known.
His rallies were not the only ones. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), lacking
the campaign resources of the Democrat party, aimed to maximize its impact on
Friday by staging five smaller rallies scattered at strategic locations
throughout the capital city, rather than at one big-bang venue.
Although little of substance was said at any of the rallies this correspondent
attended, the theater was not contained to the usual musical acts, dangdut
performances and traditional dancing. PKS legislator Rama Pratama, recently
accused of receiving bribes in a case involving the construction of
infrastructure projects in Eastern Indonesia, was quoted saying, "The PKS
lawyers and I will fight for our party's dignity. Corrupt officials do not like
the PKS because our party is clean!"
Both the chaos and entertainment value of the campaigns are expected to
snowball over the next few months, as other big parties and their potential
presidential leaders bring their respective road shows from the hinterlands
toward Jakarta, the brass ring of Indonesian politics. As they do, the traffic
situation in the capital and party's environmental credentials are both
expected to deteriorate as the presidential election season kicks into full
gear.
Bung Karno Stadium, where the Democrat Party's first major rally was held, was
left with the detritus generated by the crowd. By nightfall, after the crowd
had dissipated, the soccer pitch had been utterly destroyed by the placement of
the stages and VIP seating and the milling about of the fans of the musicians
and supporters of the Democrat Party.
The trampled pitch was left knee-deep in plastic bottles, food containers,
discarded party T-shirts and every other sort of refuse imaginable. The only
people who benefited from the destruction of the national sports venue were the
scavengers who swooped in to gather reusable and recyclable garbage. It will
likely be touch and go as to whether the football pitch can be restored to
international standards in the three months before Indonesia hosts British
football club Manchester United on July 24.
While pundits decry the lack of substance in Western politicking, Indonesia's
rally rhetoric rarely, if ever, entails candidate's pronouncing policy
positions for voters to consider. Beyond paying lip service to eliminating
corruption and graft, Indonesian politicians spend most of their stump time
discussing victory strategies. Even at press luncheons, most candidates devote
their face time with the foreign press, not to an exposition of their platforms
or political philosophies, but to explaining the graphs and charts their staff
have drawn up to demonstrate how they intend to target particular demographic
groups.
Meanwhile, the contesting parties make it clear that they do not adhere to any
particular policy, other than acquiring power. Many party operatives assume
that people will vote, not on the issues, but rather to be associated with a
winning candidate. Boiled down, Indonesian election campaigns are all about
enthusiasm, crowd pleasing, denying accusations of corruption, and deriding
opponents.
When the electoral dust settles and a selected candidate enters the
legislature, it's almost anyone's guess as to what policies and agenda the
politician will prioritize. Recent history shows that elected politicians, once
in power, will vacillate, reverse course, and even support contradictory
policies in an effort to maintain popularity and appease powerful groups.
This inevitably leads to even more rallies between election periods, as
activists and interest groups of every stripe recognize that the more vocal
they are, and the greater inconvenience they cause, the more likely they are to
be in line for political appeasement. Such are the growing pains of Indonesia's
young democracy.
Patrick Guntensperger is a Jakarta-based freelance journalist and
political and social commentator. He lectures in journalism and communications
at several universities and is a consultant in communications and corporate
social responsibility. He may be reached at pguntensperger@yahoo.ca
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