TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Anies redoubles efforts, Ahok on 'silent campaign'
Two weeks after the campaign period started, Jakarta gubernatorial challenger Anies Baswedan and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama seem to have changed their campaign styles ahead of election day on April 19.
Change Size
Thousands attend the "Gue 2" concert, a campaign event for Jakarta gubernatorial candidate pair Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot Saiful Hidaya, at the former driving range in Senayan on Feb. 4. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
T
wo weeks after the campaign period started, Jakarta gubernatorial challenger Anies Baswedan and incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama seem to have changed their campaign styles ahead of election day on April 19.
Having garnered 39.95 percent from the total votes in the first round, Anies is aware that his popularity in the capital was unquestionable and he should use the second campaign period to move forward from introducing himself, a former education and culture minister, to the public.
M. Taufik, deputy head of the Anies campaign team, said on Monday that for the last few weeks on the campaign trail Anies and his running mate Sandiaga Uno have focused on raising public awareness about their programs.
“We are trying to reach more people to let them know that Anies and Sandiaga have a lot of good programs for Jakarta. That has been our focus in the second round,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Taufik said they also adopted some of Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono’s programs to woo his 900,000 former supporters following his exclusion from the race.
(Read also: Defeated SBY's son tells supporters to freely vote for Ahok or Anies)
Recently Anies and Sandiaga have adopted Agus proposal for a cash assistance program at the community unit (RW) level. They have promised that each RW would receive money based on programs it carries out to develop local communities.
Anies, who was once known as a moderate Muslim figure, has also increased his efforts to attract Muslims voters. Having kicked off their second-round campaign by visiting the headquarters of a prominent Muslim group called Syarikat Islam, Anies and Sandiaga have since made visits to Islamic boarding schools and attended mass prayers and Quran recitals in other places.
Based on recent poll numbers, Anies has been dubbed the favorite in the election with pollsters considering that most of Agus’ former supporters would likely switch to Anies’ bandwagon.
Islam Defenders Front (FPI) founder, Rizieq Shihab, for instance, has switched his support from Agus to Anies.
(Read also: Muslim voters willing to vote for Ahok-Djarot: Surveys)
Meanwhile, Ahok seems to be pivoting away from a high profile campaign as he is choosing to do several activities that are closed to the media and rely on social media to promote his programs he will implement should he be elected.
Unlike the campaign for the first round of the election, in which his campaign team always told the press about his agenda, Ahok’s runoff campaign schedule is often unpublished.
On March 9, for instance, unbeknownst to reporters the embattled governor paid a visit to a sick resident in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, an activity that was broadcast live on his Facebook account. Later on, he visited another sick resident in Pademangan, North Jakarta.
The sharp-tongued governor said earlier that he was more comfortable not surrounded by reporters while campaigning as they would make it hard for him to greet residents if it was too crowded.
Meanwhile, since the campaign period began, Djarot has filled Ahok’s shoes to appear in front of the media by conducting more spot-checks than Ahok.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Eva Sundari said that the “silent campaign” was part of the team’s strategy to save the incumbent from the public resistance related to Ahok’s blasphemy charges.
“This [Ahok’s] campaign would be more concrete, no longer about personal marketing like ‘I’m good, please vote for me.’ Therefore, Ahok’s campaign would be more ‘silent’ compared to Djarot’s,” Eva said.
Although he seemed relaxed on his campaign activities, Ahok has undertaken “guerilla” tactics on social media to attract young voters.
Last week, Ahok launched a talk show program called the “Ahok Show,” which could be watched live through his YouTube channel, or on his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Ahok campaign team spokesman Iwet Ramadhan said the program, in which Ahok would appear as a host with presenter Sarah Sechan as his co-host, would raise popular topics, such as free Wi-Fi, open green space and affordable apartments.
