Strangely, in 2017, when the very same pollsters indicated that his party won the Jakarta gubernatorial election, Prabowo immediately declared victory without questioning the validity of the quick count. So it seems that the pollsters are only reliable when his party wins.

His premature claim has created more tension between the two camps’ supporters. While Prabowo continues to urge his supporters to remain calm and keep the peace on his Twitter account, his public claims as reported in the mass media incite suspicion and even anger among his supporters for being treated unfairly by the KPU.

Many Indonesians seem easily wooed by identity politics. And Jokowi has certainly been worried about this trend, too, as he seems to have forgotten his own promises to deal with human rights issues in Indonesia.

Among his promises are solving the murder of activist Munir Said Thalib and the mass murders in 1965. Indeed, Jokowi held a national symposium on the 1965 tragedy.

However, it seems his main intention is not to seek out the truth but merely to test the waters: He backed off once he found it was too risky for him to continue the investigation into the 1965 genocide. After the symposium, he rarely mentioned human rights, but rather economic progress and stability.

Indeed, after the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) threatened to impeach Jokowi “over 1965”, and as rumors spread that the President was a communist, he reacted — but not by challenging the lies and the stigma, but by consolidating the stigma against the victims. He declared that he would “clobber” any communist — if there were any. Then on Sept. 29, 2017, he watched the New Order propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (The Betrayal of the 30 September Movement) along with about 1,000 people in Bogor. Jokowi seems to have been easily affected by the rumors his opponents spread.

Then, following the rumors that Jokowi did not support Islam or the ulema, he distanced himself from the blasphemy case of Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, who was his former deputy during his Jakarta governorship. Later, he selected one of the main figures behind Ahok’s imprisonment, Ma’aruf Amin, as his running mate.

Thus, Jokowi has been pragmatic when it comes to holding on to power: He concentrated on infrastructure, a safer issue than human rights; he invested in healthcare; the new MRT in Jakarta has been highly praised; he built several toll roads that have been praised for reducing travel time and providing more safety to travelers. Pleasing the army and the majority is indeed an easy path to power — and to retaining it. Thus, minority rights are not his main interest.

For Indonesians concerned about human rights issues in Indonesia, this year’s election provided a disappointing choice between a former general suspected of gross human rights abuses and a civilian with a much cleaner past, but who has not kept his promises on human rights.

On top of this, Sexy Killers, the documentary film released just before the election, reveals the links between greedy coal mining corporations and the political elite from both camps.

Disappointed with Jokowi, many people concerned about unresolved human rights issues in Indonesia opted for golput —short for “white group”, referring to casting blank votes — to abstain. Others remained “loyal” to Jokowi, believing he was the lesser evil after all.

The clear winner of this election has been the persistent stigma against human rights victims and minorities, including political minorities such as survivors of arbitrary detention and torture. We cannot rely on Prabowo, who has worked with radical Islamist groups and is himself linked to human rights abuses, to settle human rights issues in Indonesia.

As this is to be Jokowi’s last term, he would actually have nothing to lose in being bolder in resolving the country’s human rights issues, so some hope he will go further in tackling these issues.

However, I doubt it. Jokowi does not seem to be an ideological politician, but more like a calculative businessman. It is thus likely that he would still take the easy path during his last term and remain just this: the lesser evil.

________________________

The writer is a senior Indonesian language lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London.

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