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Residents see presidential campaign not hitting home
The presidential election is in less than two weeks, but Ali Imron still has no idea which presidential candidate he will vote for on July 8
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The presidential election is in less than two weeks, but Ali Imron still has no idea which presidential candidate he will vote for on July 8.
Ali, 36, said he had expected to receive complete information about all the candidates’ working programs but would have to find this data by himself since there was no presidential campaign team visiting his community.
“During the previous [legislative] campaign period, several legislative candidates came here to share and discuss their programs with the residents,” said Ali, who heads a neighborhood unit (RT) in Kebagusan, South Jakarta, home to 189 families.
“But today, as of the last week of the open campaign period, no one came. We even don’t know who erected campaign banners and posters along the main street nearby.”
Anindita Karti, who lives in Tugu Utara, North Jakarta, shared a similar concern, saying she received information about all presidential candidates only from the television since no presidential campaign team had initiated a public meeting with residents in her community.
“I have seen the performances of all three presidential candidates in some televised debates,” said Anindita, who works for a car manufacturer company.
“But please, don’t ask me to explain their programs, I don’t even remember any of them,” she added, giggling.
Three presidential candidates are running in the upcoming July 8 elections: Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is backed by a giant coalition of 23 political parties, former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is backed by the Golkar Party and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura). However, the first two weeks of the open campaign period has brought the candidates’ campaign teams, especially those in regional level, under criticism since they have relied on media publications and failed to create room for discussion at the grass roots level.
H. E Syahrial, chairman of Megawati’s campaign team in Jakarta, admitted the situation, saying media publications, especially television, had played a significant role in creating public awareness of his candidate since it was impossible to schedule Megawati visiting all parts of the country during the limited time of open campaign period.
Agoest Zakaria, a Golkar Party official and deputy chairman for Jusuf Kalla’s campaign team, echoed Syahrial’s view about the importance of the media, adding the party could not fully rely on the support from their local cadres who have just finished participating in the previous legislative elections.
Meanwhile, Santoso, spokesman for Yudhoyono’s campaign team in Jakarta admitted it was the team’s strategy to make the most of SBY’s personal image through media publications.
However, all three politicians denied allegations that their campaign style will lead people to think irrationally, leaving them picking their favorite candidate based only on a created image or exercised performance.
In the 2009 legislative elections, the Jakarta Regional Election Commission (KPUD) recorded 7,026,772 registered voters in the city and managed more than 16,000 polling stations (TPS) in 44 districts. However, it found less than 60 percent of registered voters actually cast a ballot.
For the upcoming presidential election, the KPUD has registered 641,286 additional voters. (hwa)
