Hello friends!
After a fresh bout with COVID (throwback!) this month I am finally on the mend again. And there is a lot to catch up on, so today we’ll look at the latest conversation about the role of President Jokowi in the campaign. Later in the week, I’ll be back in your inbox with a broader look.
In the meantime, join us over at
with a look at the broader Southeast Asia region.Erin Cook
Heads up! Campaign banners, flags injure
Indonesia is blanketed! Not in smog, for the time being Instead every available surface is a platform for campaign posters and flags. While it looks great it is a hazard for an unlucky few. Two motorcycle riders in East Jakarta were knocked off their bike by a banner for PSI candidate Ilma Sovri Yanti after it fell during heavy winds. The pair sustained small injuries and the candidate has offered to pay. It could be much worse — the Jakarta Post reports a high schooler was killed by falling materials in Central Java earlier this month.
A must-watch from the ABC
Usually, something like this would be found at the bottom of the newsletter. But I’m very impressed with ABC so want to share it with as many eyeballs as possible. They’re running a three-part series that looks at the three presidential candidates as well as the key issues facing voters — across the archipelago! No Java supremacy here! I’m a huge fan of Erwin Renaldi Surahman, Hellena Souisa and Natasya Salim who host an episode each so it’s an enormous recommend from me. Can be watched online in Australia and I think abroad via one of the links here.
To campaign or not to campaign
“President may campaign. We may take sides. We are a public official, as well as politicians. [How come] we are not permitted to [campaign and take sides],” President Jokowi said on Wednesday as he delivered a cache of fighter jets to the military alongside Defence Minister and presidential frontrunner Prabowo Subianto.
The comments kicked off a round of criticism that the president is unduly involved in the race. It’s an interesting charge and one he has faced repeatedly, given the role of his son as running mate to Prabowo and his immense friendliness with his former rival.
Whatever, says Mahfud MD. “It’s okay if the President said that, just go ahead,” he said Wednesday while on the hustings. He’s in a uniquely tricky position on this one as both a candidate and the current Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, instead directing reporters to the electoral bodies, as per Tempo.
It’s legally correct, the Jakarta Globe reports. While predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono never got involved, the 2017 election law ‘specifies that the president, vice president, cabinet members, and other state officials have the right to join campaign rallies for re-election or as registered campaigners for other candidates, subject to approval from the General Election Commission (KPU).’ Lawmakers are required to take a day of leave for such activities.
Still, Jokowi is struggling with the optics. The presidential office is in overdrive trying to convince punters and the media class that everything is above board. “The law is clear, don't make a controversy out of this. Election campaigns involving the president and vice president must comply with the provisions of not using facilities in their positions except security facilities and taking leave outside the state's responsibility,” he said later in the week.
Todung Mulya Lubis, the very famous lawyer currently acting as legal advisor to the Ganjar-Mahfud MD campaign, says it is much, much wider than a few eyebrow-raising incidents. Village organisers are involved in “systemic” abuses of neutrality, he alleged in comments to Tempo, including the outright direction of local villagers to vote for the Prabowo-Gibran ticket.
Sudirman Said, a former Jokowi cabinet minister turned deputy chair of the Anies-Cak Imin campaign, is even heavier hitting in his comments. “A huge turning point that we’ve been discussing is about the highest leader of the country who should set an example in managing the state, instead shows the opposite, changing laws for personal and family interests,” he told the magazine. “That is a ‘red flag’ indicating that something very serious is happening. So, whatever has happened lately is just an effect or a result of that significant event.”
Former West Java governor turned Prabowo-Gibran booster Ridwan Kamil downplayed the accusations. It’s normal for a parent to support their child! He also noted the team had heard reports of ministerial staff coming to villages and exchanging financial support for backing certain candidates.
These sorts of allegations are a regular feature, indeed comments about money politics are so engrained I haven’t bothered to include them here. What is different this time is, of course, the presence of Jokowi and Gibran. If you’re a voter already deeply annoyed by the court machinations that got Gibran on the ticket to begin with, this must all be salt in the wound.
Still, it will be interesting to see how the President approaches these final weeks. Jokowi still reports polling support that would make most world leaders weep in jealousy, so he certainly has a lot of space to maneuver — or at least a lot of space to ignore criticism — and he’s one foot out the door, anyway. But it can also blowback onto Gibran. He’s already developing quite the reputation for arrogance and entitlement in some quarters and perceptions of daddy pulling every lever possible to clear the road probably won’t be too helpful in the long term.
Is Gibran rude, or is he putting some juice into the debates?
I was still a little unwell during the most recent vice presidential candidate debate, but we have to talk about it. What’s Up, Indonesia has an excellent thread about the discussion points here. The bigger takeaway, however, is that Gibran Rakabuming Raka, son of President Jokowi and running mate to Prabowo Subianto, kinda annoyed a lot of people. He has a tough time holding his own against other candidates Muhaimin Iskandar, better known as Cak Imin, and Mahfud MD who have decades of experience over him.
While Gibran argued for the continuation of many of his father’s policies in the energy-themed debate, it was his attitude towards the other two that had the internet exploding. “Please don’t ever say that Gibran is representing the youth ever again, we don’t claim this cringe and arrogant person,” one Twitter user wrote to 57,000 likes, as reported by the Jakarta Post.
A survey of social media sentiment found it overwhelmingly negative towards Gibran’s behaviour. The word ‘cringe’ was generously deployed. This isn’t to say Mahfud nor Cak Imin didn’t get their jabs in, but both refrained from the personal and sneering manner of their younger rival.
The best snarky line probably goes to PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto, who has no love for Gibran: “There’s a reason why the law used to require presidential and VP candidates to be at least 40 years old to run for office. Unfortunately, the Constitutional Court changed the rule,” he said the next day.
Of course, how much will it really matter in the long run? I’m not convinced Gibran himself is a major draw for the Prabowo-Gibran voters and I don’t think it will shift the needle at all (although I do think it will probably follow Gibran around for a long time).
Further reading
Talking Indonesia: the presidential election (Indonesia at Melbourne)
It’s Meitzner time! He’s on the podcast to share what he reckons is to come in the next few weeks and beyond (I haven’t listened yet, I’ll be honest. But Mietzner and Purdey? No brainer.)
Who is post-debate social media star Thomas Lembong? (The Jakarta Post)
On one occasion, Gibran put forth an aggressive defense against both his rivals in response to Muhaimin’s statement about him: “Maybe Gus [brother] Muhaimin also didn’t understand the question he asked me. Maybe he got a cheat sheet from Tom Lembong.” Prabowo’s running mate, Surakarta mayor and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son was referring to the famed economist and now cocaptain of the Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin campaign team.
Though he may have intended to make a dig at Muhaimin, Gibran’s name-dropping Thomas triggered criticisms against both him and his father, with many Anies-Muhaimin supporters pointing out that the economist served as the President’s speechwriter for several international events.
Will 2024’s regional head elections strengthen or undermine Indonesian democracy? (East Asia Forum)
Both the government and parliament were initially reluctant to be seen as pushing a change to the election date, suggesting an awareness that the official reasons for it are unconvincing. But after abandoning an earlier proposal that the executive change the date using an emergency method of law-making, it is now agreed that the parliament will do so by making limited amendments to the Regional Head Elections Law.
This episode demonstrates that Jokowi is not limiting his self-acknowledged electoral ‘meddling’ to only the presidential contest. More broadly, it suggests that even though direct elections for regional heads are safe for now, they remain vulnerable to the forces that are gradually eroding the quality of Indonesia’s democracy.