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.
TNI clout falters in regional elections
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A voter casts his ballot at a polling station in Tangerang, Banten, on Nov. 27, 2024. (Antara/Muhammad Iqbal)
Over a dozen former members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) who ran for regional office this year are expected to have lost their contests, sparking questions about the institution’s image and whether it continues to hold sway over voters.
At least 36 former TNI members ran for governor, regent or mayor in the simultaneous regional elections on Nov. 27. Some already had established track records as regional heads, such as retired one-star Army general Edy Natar Nasution, who ran for mayor of Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province. Edy served as Riau’s deputy governor following his election in 2018 and later became the province’s governor.
While the official vote tabulation is still underway, quick counts from various pollsters suggest that over 20 of those ex-TNI candidates will lose their races, including former TNI commander Andika Perkasa and retired Army general Edy Rahmayadi. Both Andika and Edy ran on the ticket of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Quick counts show Andika trailing behind rival Ahmad Luthfi, a retired three-star police general backed by President Prabowo Subianto’s Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM), in the Central Java gubernatorial race.
In the race for governor of North Sumatra, Edy appears to have lost to KIM-backed Bobby Nasution, the son-in-law of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
