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Post-debate, Muhaimin speaks of ‘slepet’ and other jargon
Vice-presidential candidate Muhaimin Iskandar talked about the importance of slepet and addressed jargon that was used against him during the debate.
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Vice presidential candidate Muhaimin Iskandar prepares to demonstrate 'slepet' (whacking) with his sarong during the second 2024 election debate at the Jakarta Convention Center on Dec. 22, 2023. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
On the heels of a lively election debate, vice presidential candidate Muhaimin “Cak Imin” Iskandar has spoken up about his use of the term slepet (to whack) and jargon that his rival Gibran Rakabuming Raka has used against him.
The word went viral at the second official debate of the 2024 presidential election, held on Friday. It denotes the act of flicking a sarong to whip someone, which is a common prank among boys who went to pesantren (Islamic boarding school) across Indonesia.
The National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman and his partner, presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, have used the act to comedic effect on social media and to promote their election platform. It was among the most used words in the debate, according to one local media outlet.
Muhaimin revealed at the weekend that he was looking to replace the term revolusi mental (mental revolution) that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo espoused with slepet, symbolizing the cracking of the whip, to bring about a “true revolution”.
“Since the revolusi mental has failed to properly materialize, the term became a bit confusing. Therefore, we aim to provide an easier and less disruptive new term,” Muhaimin said at a talk show in Semarang, Central Java, on Sunday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Slepet, the seasoned politician opined, showed that the country’s fundamental problems would be fixed in a transformative movement. It can be interpreted as enacting revolutionary change to the current situation.
Read also: Candidate profile: Muhaimin IskandarAnother way to use it, he said, is to crack the whip on corruption, which he considers to be the root cause of many problems, including poverty and declining justice.
“Business players also play a double role as rule makers, complicating this situation,” Muhaimin said.
“This is what we have to slepet [crack the whip on]. Regulations must apply equally to business players and to the people.”
At the same event, Muhaimin made light of Gibran’s attempt to embarrass him during the debate by asking about ways to improve Indonesia’s standing on the SGIE, which is an abbreviation of the State of the Global Islamic Economy report.
“It was a matter of the abbreviation. When I searched [for SGIE] on Google, what came out was sego goreng iwak endog [egg fried rice],” he said, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Muhaimin insists he was capable of answering Gibran’s question by underlining the role of sharia banks and halal-based economic activity.
Separately, Rezza Arief, an expert on the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran campaign team, sought to justify the importance of the SGIE as a parameter for discussing the sharia economic system.
“Without a good understanding of the parameters, we can’t formulate the appropriate [policy],” Rezza said.
