Political Polish

The Jakarta Post   |  Sat, 12/22/2007 5:54 PM  |  Trends

A powerful party’s backing used to mean guaranteed success for political candidates in Indonesia. Today in the era of direct elections it takes the right image to win friends and influence people. Bhimanto Suwastoyo meets the consultants who help their clients across the finish line.

Any candidate in Indonesian direct elections knows that the road to glory today does not come cheap: The higher the office, the higher the expenses. Some say the sums involved can reach hundreds of billions of rupiah.

Besides the costs of preparations and campaigning, another component – image building – now takes a hefty chunk of the war chest.

Testing the political waters and gauging public sentiment, political consultants formulate the ways and means to boost their clients' public appeal.

"Elections now come into the territory of image building, and in this respect the role of political consultants is quite important," says Achyar Asmu'ie, a lecturer in socio-political sciences at the University of Tanjungpura in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

Asmu'ie says the role of political parties in determining a candidate's chances of success is weakening. There have been an increasing number of examples of political parties becoming fragmented in the face of more primordial considerations. It’s no longer a given that a candidate backed by a strong party will win at the polls.

"Voters are also no longer awed by the might of political parties behind a candidate, but they now scrutinize the candidate to see signs  the candidate is really the 'messiah' they have been waiting for," he says.

Bomer Pasaribu, a senior legislator from the Golkar party, agrees that the power wielded by political parties is waning.

"In image-building, candidates can no longer rely merely on a party's mechanism as in the past," he says.

"There is no longer a single political mechanism that can guarantee the success of political candidacy. Besides the party machine, candidates should also use other means to boost their popularity."

Bomer, who was one of the key executives behind the 2004 campaign for the party's presidential candidate, retired general Wiranto, believes that image-builders now play a much more significant role than the political machinery of parties in winning over voters at the grassroots level.

"No matter how good the candidate or how strong the political party behind him, if the campaign team is inefficient, voters will not buy into his candidacy. Campaigning without listening to the grassroots aspirations and needs is now futile, and this is where a political consultant can help.”

In the brief history of Indonesia's political consultancy, one name stands out as a political kingmaker: Denny Januar Aly, the executive director of the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI).

The holder of a doctorate in comparative politics and business history from Ohio State University is credited with putting seven governors (including recently elected Jakarta leader Fauzi Bowo) and 17 district heads and mayors in their seats since 2004, when direct elections became the norm in Indonesia.

The organization’s proven track record means that clients now come to it for a winning edge.

Its services include strategic surveys to situate potential candidates on the political map and to determine the main aspirations of voters in local elections. It then provides advice to the client about what should be done to respond to these aspirations and formulates winning strategies.

Depending on the client’s wishes, and of course, his or her purse, LSI is also able to provide an all-inclusive service that covers everything from preparing the necessary campaign or promotion materials, mobilizing crowds for rallies and advising on post-electoral needs to maintain popularity levels.

But the services are not provided to every hopeful.

"We look at the probability level for a potential client's chances beforehand,” says Denny. “From surveys, we determine how well known or liked the person is, his or her support base and whether a minimum level of popularity [to run] has been met.”

Candidates with potentially problematic backgrounds – past criminal convictions or other

distasteful personal issues – are weeded out.

The service does not come cheap, although the 44-year-old will only say his fees are “quite substantial” and are tailored to each client’s needs.

"It depends on the size of the population involved, how difficult the area concerned is geographically and on the popularity level of the client," he says, adding that the scope of service provided was another factor determining the final sum.

The chairman of the National Mandate Party, Soetrisno Bachir, speaking during a political discussion in Jakarta in October, said he was once told by a political consultant that it would take at least Rp 300 billion to gauge the popularity of a candidate in a presidential election.

"And that is only for the popularity part," he remarked.

Although there is increasing acceptance of political consultants, suspicion of their tactics persists. 

"Academically, they have a moral responsibility to uphold. For one, they should never put primordialism onto the political stage," Asmu'ie says.

Pasaribu says image building for political gain can sometimes veer into fudging the truth – or outright lying -- for political gain.

"In political battles, everything gets mixed up, ethical and unethical,” he says. “Even though at the elite level there is a will to respect ethics in politics, once it reaches the operators at the grassroots level, this willingness often dissipates, and misleading the public during a campaign is not unheard of.

"One example is smear campaigns, the efforts to tarnish the image of rivals in elections. But it’s not only found in this country ...”

Denny dismisses such accusations, saying that "strong image building should rest on facts”.

He adds that grandiose claims by candidates would immediately be shot down by pundits and rivals.

Denny is currently grooming 10 candidates and the future potential seems vast: Direct elections produce 500 national legislators, 33 governors and more than 450 district heads and mayors.

But he wants more than to be remembered as a pioneer in the field of political consultancy and surveys in Indonesia. He wants to be the best.

"I want to achieve the historical record by the end of 2009 of putting 15 governors in their positions," he says.

"I want this achievement to also inspire future generations."

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