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Jokowi, smear campaigns and '#akurapopo'
Itâs the time of the season again, when religion and ethnicity are being bandied around to attack political candidates
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t's the time of the season again, when religion and ethnicity are being bandied around to attack political candidates.
One such smear campaign was seen on the cover of the latest edition of an Islamic tabloid, which had a photo of Jakarta Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo with the headline, 'Kristen dan Hoakiau Di Belakang Jokowi' (The Christians and Chinese immigrants behind Jokowi).
But such smear campaigns are not new for Jokowi, who was recently nominated as the presidential candidate for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). In the Jakarta gubernatorial election two years ago, the former Surakarta mayor and his running mate Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama, an Indonesian of Chinese descent, faced similar attacks, including from self-styled king of dangdut Rhoma Irama, who said that Jakarta should not be led by a non-Muslim.
Sometimes such attacks have come back to haunt politicians, as it has for Rhoma, who has denied he ever made the statement and touted himself as a potential running mate for Jokowi.
The use of religion, including quoting verses from the Koran, to attack political opponents is not without precedent. Early in the reform era, the PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was selected as president by the People's Consultative Assembly in 1999, was attacked for being a woman. Similar barbs were hurled when she ran for president in the 2004 and 2009 direct presidential elections.
'Arrijalu qawamuna allannisa' (Men are leaders of women), is one verse in the Koran that was frequently trotted out by Muslim politicians challenging Megawati's candidacy.
This year, the daughter of the country's first president Sukarno will not run for president and instead passed the baton to Jokowi. But that does not guarantee politicians won't quote other verses from the Koran to attack Jokowi.
Jokowi has apparently made it a policy to ignore such political jabs. He seems smart enough to know that his supporters will defend him.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) frowns upon the use of ethnicity, religion and race ' grouped under the local acronym SARA ' as weapons in political campaigns.
A number of NGOs aligned as the Diversity Movement for Quality Elections have demanded political candidates avoid using SARA to attack rival politicians. The group has called on the Elections Monitoring Agency (Bawaslu) to crack down on politicians making such attacks.
In public, it's becoming more difficult for politicians to use SARA to attack rivals, but that does not exclude the tactic from use in private settings. Intolerant people are everywhere.
The best way to respond to a smear campaign is to not respond. Jokowi has done a great job with that. He and Ahok brushed off attacks and won the Jakarta Gubernatorial election in 2012.
Politicians targeted by smear campaigns could also use some humor, as seen with the proliferation of the Twitter hashtag #akurapopo. A Javanese phrase meaning 'I'm just fine,' the hashtag is a tongue-in-cheek response to hearing bad news in politics.
Before the era of social media, politicians could just say 'no comment' and hope an issue would be laid to rest.
But nowadays, with the prolific number of media outlets, it's hard to hide from the public spotlight.
When Megawati decided to endorse Jokowi, presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto was predictably angry and called Megawati a flip-flopper for violating what he said was a promise she had made to endorse him.
But he should have just taken it easy and responded to Jokowi's nomination by saying, 'aku rapopo' (I'm just fine).
Besides, he should have known that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. There are only interests.
Before the arrival of Jokowi, Prabowo topped most surveys of potential presidential candidates, despite criticism that he, as head of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus), ordered the kidnapping and torture of pro-democracy activists in 1998. He has weathered this criticism. Prabowo could just say, 'I'm just fine,' while holding the hand of some former pro-democracy activist who joined his party.
Despite smear campaigns, voters are getting smarter. They can make up their own minds on Election Day. Hopefully, whoever loses the presidential election will be ready with the hashtag #akurapopo.
Elections are like soccer matches, in that a star player does not need to exact vengeance after being tackled by a rival player. Let the referee distribute yellow or red cards when needed.
If the referee fails to make a sound judgment, let the spectators evaluate the game and choose the winner.
