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resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appears to be going the extra mile in his attempt to win the hearts of voters in West Java following reports he had ordered 100,000 bottles of detergent worth Rp 2 billion (US$140,597) from a small business in the province.

West Java, one of the most religiously conservative provinces in the country, is the stronghold of Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi’s rival in April’s presidential election.

In 2014, Jokowi lost to Prabowo in the province, while an internal survey conducted by his campaign in December showed it was one the few regions in which the electability of the Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin pair was declining. Eli Liawati, a detergent and dishwashing liquid producer in Padahurip village in Garut, said she was jubilant after Jokowi and First Lady Iriana made the order during a government-sponsored event in the regency on Saturday.

The businesswoman, who does not yet have any employees, said she had been paid Rp 10 million by the President and had begun working on Jokowi’s order, which she said would be fully paid for in February.

“Thank you Pak Jokowi. I hope he will be the president again,” she said as quoted by Antara.

Eli said she would use the money to pay for a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia with her family.

The opposition camp was quick to criticize Jokowi’s move, saying that the President should be transparent regarding the funds that he would use to pay for the order. “Which coffer will he use to buy all of that?” Prabowo-Sandi team spokesman Andre Rosiade told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The extravagant purchase, Andre said, was a sign that Jokowi was fully aware that he was trailing Prabowo in West Java. “We know that he is still losing in West Java and he has been trying to polish his image in West Java like this. He also got [a haircut] at a street barbershop in Garut a few days ago,” he said.

It remains unclear if Jokowi will use his own money to pay the woman or what he will do with the 100,000 bottles of detergent.

The Jokowi-Ma’ruf campaign claimed that what Jokowi did was legal and in his capacity as President and not as election contender. But its officials gave different explanations about the source of the funds.

“The money is not from us, so it’s not part of the campaign. It appears that it was his own. If it was from the state budget, it should be taken into account. As a president, he can’t spend state money without following procedures,” Jokowi-Maruf campaign spokesman Usman Kansong said.

Pramono Anung, an adviser to the Jokowi campaign, however, refuted Usman’s claim, saying that the campaign was in fact the party that would make the payment for the detergent.

“The use of the detergent will be under the authority of the campaign. The campaign will distribute it, as it is allowed to do so under the law,” he said.

Presidential spokesman Johan Budi Sapto Prabowo and the Finance Ministry’s budgeting director general, Askolani, declined to comment on the source of the funds, though they claimed that Jokowi made the order in his capacity as President and not as election contender.

Analysts said Jokowi’s move could easily be seen as an attempt to win votes.

“The objective is to boost his electability in West Java that lags far behind Prabowo. The goal is to hike his electability. He wants to win the public’s heart,” said Hendri Satrio, a political analyst from Jakarta’s Paramadina University.

Sirojudin Abbas, researcher at Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting, concurred with Hendri, but added that it was also possible that Jokowi was only trying to show support for local and small businesses.

“It’s valid to connect this moment with his electability in West Java. I don’t separate this with its political effect, but this is not a single interpretation. He was endorsing locally made jackets, sneakers and custom motorcycles previously and we all knew it,” he said. (ggq)