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COMMENTARY: Losing Jakarta. How will it impact Jokowi's 2019 reelection bid ?
Jokowi’s electability at 58 percent, as indicated by several pollsters last month, will not guarantee him a victory in his bid for reelection, particularly when his influence failed to help Ahok win over more voters.
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Upbeat -- President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo speaks to journalists in a press conference at the State Palace in Jakarta. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
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dul Fitri came early at hundreds of mosques in the capital as their congregations chanted takbir (praise to Allah) and lit firecrackers until late on Wednesday in celebration of a new dawn after Anies Baswedan, the gubernatorial candidate backed by conservative and hard-line Muslim groups, swept closer to leading Jakarta.
Anies, supported by the opposition camp, delivered a crushing defeat, according to quick counts by all pollsters, on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ally and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent.
The election, deemed the dirtiest, most polarizing and most divisive campaign the country has ever held, will serve as a precedent for the 2019 presidential election.
Mosques spearheaded the campaign at the grassroots level in support of Anies despite electoral law prohibiting places of worship from being used as campaign venues. Politicized sermons during Friday prayers, along with smear campaigning are now widely tolerated.
These tactics will unfortunately become the new normal for any politicians vying to get elected as regional leaders, or even to clinch the presidency amid a growth in Islamic conservatism.
Losing Jakarta as a result of these tactics has sent a chilling message to Jokowi and his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), long perceived as the personification of the political vehicle for non-Muslim and secular voters.
With exactly two years left until the simultaneous presidential and legislative election, Jokowi is exposed to greater risk in his attempts to get reelected unless he succeeds in neutralizing the proliferating sectarian playbook.
