The campaign activities of the three candidate pairs in the upcoming Jakarta election will reach their peak soon with big rallies to win over voters ahead of polling day on Feb. 15.

Incumbent Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and his running mate Djarot Saiful Hidayat are set to hold their biggest rally, titled “Konser Gue 2” (I AM 2 Concert), in the former driving range in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Saturday. As many as 70 local musicians and celebrities, including Slank, Glenn Fredly and Tompi, are slated to participate in the event.

Ahok’s campaign team spokesman Ansy Lema said the artists had volunteered to perform in the event for free.

“We wouldn’t have the money to pay all of them. This is what Pak Ahok always wants, political participation,” Ansy said, adding that music shows and flash mobs would feature in the free event aimed at prospective young voters.

Djarot previously said Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri was scheduled to attend the event.

On Sunday, former education and culture minister Anies Baswedan and his running mate Sandiaga Uno will stage a rally in Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta, which they expect will draw more than 20,000 supporters.

Member of the Anies-Sandiaga campaign team Ririn Wulandari said Thursday that all high-profile figures from the candidate pair’s two supporting political parties — the Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) — were scheduled to attend the event to encourage attendees to vote for the pair.

“[Gerindra patron] Prabowo Subianto will be there. We are very excited because this is the main event of our campaign,” Rini said.

Besides speeches from political party leaders, various performances will be held to showcase the diversity of the capital.

Meanwhile, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Sylviana Murni are scheduled to close their campaign with a rally on Feb. 11 at Soemantri Brodjonegoro Sports Stadium in Kuningan, South Jakarta. The campaign team is expecting around 30,000 to 50,000 attendees.

Campaign team spokesperson Imelda Sari said the event, which might be attended by Agus’ father, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, would consist of fun activities like music performances that would serve as a “simple reminder” to people to vote for the Agus-Sylviana ticket.

Imelda added that the campaign team would coordinate with the police to ensure the security of the event because the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) also planned to hold a demonstration in the city on the same day.

“That demo has nothing to do with our campaign. We submitted a campaign plan to KPU Jakarta [Jakarta General Elections Commission] long before [the FPI] planned to hold its rally,” Imelda added.

Separately, KPU Jakarta commissioner Betty Epsilon Idroos said the major campaign rallies would be special events compared to the daily campaign activities, which only permitted each candidate to involve a maximum of 2,000 people. “In the big rallies, they may involve as many parties as possible. The events may be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m,” Betty said at KPU Jakarta headquarters in Senen, Central Jakarta.

Even though campaign teams are free to manage their events, Betty said they should be careful not to break any regulations, such as discrediting other candidates based on ethnicity, religion or race.

Jakarta Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) commissioner Mimah Susanti said his office was ready to monitor the rallies to make sure the activities would not violate prevailing regulations.

“We will ensure there won’t be vote buying or underage participants involved in the events. We will also monitor the venues to make sure the campaign teams do not leave campaign materials behind after the event,” she said, adding that the campaign teams should not roll out any convoys before or after the events. Meanwhile, Central Jakarta Police spokesman Com. Suyatno said the police would be ready to secure the major campaign events held by the Ahok and Anies teams this weekend.

— Moses Ompusunggu and Nurul Fitri Ramadhani contributed to this story from Jakarta

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