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.
Know your candidates
For a political party that controls a little over 9 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives, what the NasDem Party did at the start of the week was bold.
Change Size
Familiar faces: West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil (left), Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan (center) and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo (right) pose for a photo session on Feb. 19, 2020. The three governors will end their terms this year or next year and be replaced by acting governors. (Instagram of /Ridwan Kamil)
P
olitics is the art of making the impossible possible and on Monday the NasDem Party again tested the limit on what is possible in Indonesian politics.
For a political party that only controls a little over 9 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives, what the NasDem Party did at the start of the week was a bold move.
With the balloting day for the presidential election still one and a half year away and with no other political parties coming out with their preferred candidates, the NasDem Party blazes the trail by nominating outgoing Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan as its presidential candidate for 2024.
The NasDem Party elite certainly wanted to repeat their success in 2014 when they rolled the dice by nominating then-Jakarta governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo as the party’s pick for president before any major political parties decided to do so.
Back then, Jokowi's candidacy was a no-brainer but it took awhile for his backers to make up their mind about it.
The gamble paid off and now the NasDem Party has seats in the cabinet and despite frequent cabinet shake-ups, those cabinet seats remained safe.
It remains to be seen if the NasDem Party’s bet on Anies will pay dividends in the 2024 election. Because the party doesn’t have the numbers to carry the presidential ticket, it must first clear the hurdle of building a coalition with at least two other political parties.
Many have talked about a coalition comprising of the NasDem Party, the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), but some have toyed with the idea of pairing Anies with East Java governor Chofifah Indar Parawansa; something that if materialized could make it difficult for the Democratic Party to join the coalition, especially with Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono angling for at least a second slot in the ticket.
And even if the NasDem Party manages to set up a coalition ahead of the Feb. 2024 polling, it will have to fight pundits who are predicting that there will be four tickets running for a spot in the second round.
But whatever the odds for the NasDem Party and whatever their ulterior motive may be, it has kicked the election season in high gear by announcing the presidential candidate early in the game.
It’s now up to other major political parties – the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Gerindra and Golkar – to follow suit and declare their candidates for the race.
If a medium-sized party like the NasDem Party or even a smaller party like the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) – which nominated Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo also on Monday – can muster the strength to have an early start to the game, these major parties certainly can do better.
The earlier politicians announce their candidates, the better voters will be informed about whom they will vote for president in 2024.
With the campaign time reduced to 75 days, it certainly helps the electorate to have a longer time to vet these politicians, to look into their track records and achievements while in political office, or if they have any dirty laundry or skeletons in the closet.
So let the race begin soon, as the second mouse may not always get the cheese.
