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[COMMENTARY] Coldplay can unite Biden and Jokowi
The wounds from Indonesia’s 2019 elections have not completely healed after over a year. Americans will likely have a similar experience.
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![[COMMENTARY] Coldplay can unite Biden and Jokowi](https://img.jakpost.net/c/2020/11/08/2020_11_08_106977_1604816585._large.jpg)
Then-US Vice President Joe Biden (left) greets Indonesian President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo at the official vice presidential residence during the latter's visit to the US on Oct. 15, 2015. (Handout/Twitter/@Jokowi)
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any Indonesians, as well as foreigners who witnessed the nation’s elections last year, have said the political tension, the national divide and the behavior of the two presidential candidates and their die-hard supporters have been replicated in the United States presidential race.
The wounds from Indonesia’s 2019 elections have not completely healed after over a year. Americans will likely have a similar experience.
Many in the country have drawn similarities between President Donald Trump and Prabowo Subianto – the elections’ losers – and between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and US president-elect Joe Biden – the winners.
Like Trump, Prabowo, who received strong support from political elites, the bureaucracy, conservative Muslims, Islamic political parties and those who enjoyed privilege under Soeharto’s 32-year regime, claimed victory.
“We have evidence that our allies, our fighters, are being raped in this Republic of Indonesia. […] We’re now convinced that we have won the mandate of the people!” Prabowo said after the General Elections Commission (KPU) declared that Jokowi had won a second term as President in May of last year.
Americans may feel offended by such a comparison because they are the world’s most powerful nation and consider themselves champions of democracy. But the behavior of fundamentalist Christians in the US, who backed Trump, is not much different from that of the hardline Muslim groups who supported Prabowo.
Australian journalist David Lipson, who covered both the Indonesian and US presidential elections, shared his impression of the duel between Trump and Biden in a tweet. “Feeling like Indonesian politics,” he wrote.
