The 44-year-old, well acquainted with street dust and loudspeakers since 1995, was in disbelief that his friends were urging him to take off his activist robe to become “someone” in position.

However, on account of their persistence, the former Panasonic employee eventually nodded his head. After bowing to their request Obon put his supporters to work.

 "I challenged them to collect vote pledges for me to run as an independent candidate. If they could do that, I vowed that I'd work three times harder than them," Obon told The Jakarta Post recently.

Apart from collecting vote pledges as required by the law to be an independent candidate, Obon also challenged his friends to work together to collect money to rent a house for a secretariat and for other expenses because he lacked the funds to do so.

Obon’s friends seemed serious. After two years of hard work, Obon and running mate Bambang Sumaryono were declared an official pair by the Bekasi General Elections Commission (KPUD Bekasi). Some 2,000 volunteers collected 143,122 vote pledges and had them verified with KPUD Bekasi, surpassing the minimum 134,683. Obon said his volunteers also included bakso (meatball) sellers, street singers and civil organization activists.

The pair is competing against four other in the election set to take place on Feb. 15, 2017. Other pairs are Meilina Kartika Kadir-Abdul Kholik, incumbent Neneng Hasanah Yasin-Eka Supriatmaja, Iin Farihin-KH Mahfudz Al-Haifdz and Sa'duddin-Ahmad Dhani.

Obon became a labor activist because of his concern about health services for the poor, including low-income workers. He had his own experience when his son fell ill with Hirschsprung disease. His insurance company refused to bear the medical expenses for his son as they believed the sickness was hereditary. After depleting his savings for the treatment, Obon resorted to borrowing money from a friend, offering his house as collateral.

"There was vengeance in my heart. I told myself that no worker should experience what I had experienced," the father of four said.

As an activist, Obon participated in the deliberation of laws related to the workers’ welfare, including a law concerning the Health Care and Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan). He was also involved in deciding payment based on the business sector and cost of living (KHL) index several years ago – important factors to decide minimum wage.

Although his main supporters are workers, Obon promises to accommodate employers’ interests if elected. He pledges to carry out bureaucratic reform in the hope of cutting red tape and eradicating corruption.

He also promises to change the perception of Bekasi as being underdeveloped. He believes the regency has the potential to develop further as it is home to 5,000 factories with 700,000 factory workers.

Linda Savirani, a social and political lecturer with the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM), said Obon could be the candidate of choice for those unhappy with the incumbent regent.  

Linda lauds Obon’s success thus far, as it shows big money and the backing of a political party is not necessary. “Obon has defied the political oligarchy,” she said, adding that his background as an activist is a plus.

"He comes from the grass roots and he understands their problems, especially regarding education and health services," said Linda. However, she urged Obon to seek a wider support base to increase electability.

Meanwhile, Nono, Obon’s volunteer team chief, credited Obon as a figure who had spent years devoting himself to workers’ welfare. Nono said it had been a challenge to collect vote pledges for Obon, particularly because Obon was not well known to people outside trade unions.

Some residents thought the volunteers were sales people and only seeking money from them, he said. But Obon is now known as a regent candidate who is welcomed by many residents.

"Usually, when the candidates greet residents, they will give ‘something' to them. In Obon’s case, the residents were giving money to him," he said while breaking out in laughter. (bbn)

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