The outdoor campaign will last 21 days, starting tomorrow. The end of open campaigning will mark the start of a three-day cooling-off period before around 204 million people elect the new president, vice president and legislature members on Feb. 14.

In the face of the critical election period, which will be marked by the mobilization of the masses, many have cast doubt over the President’s commitment to fulfilling his promise that he and the state apparatus will remain neutral.

His gestures so far have suggested that he does not live up to his oath, probably because his eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka will run for vice president alongside his defense minister, Prabowo Subianto. The candidate pair is backed by the Onward Indonesia Coalition, comprising the Gerindra Party, the National Awakening Party, the Democratic Party and a few non-parliamentary parties.

Such a show of partiality is dangerous as it may trigger conflicts among grassroots supporters, who cannot accept violations of the principles of a just and fair election. Therefore, we urge the President to refrain from any shenanigans. If he fails to do so, the state apparatus will find justification to follow suit and the credibility of the upcoming elections will be in jeopardy.

Clashes between supporters did take place in the previous five democratic elections between 1999 and 2019, but in general, security and public order remained under control because the public trusted the integrity and neutrality of the state institutions and apparatus. Nobody expects this time around things will be different.

Minor skirmishes between supporters and violations of the election rules have occurred since the campaign period began on Nov. 28, 2023. Strict law enforcement is imperative to prevent these incidents from recurring during the key three weeks to come.

The Jan. 21-Feb. 10 open campaign period will be critical from a security and public order point of view, especially if the public loses trust in the police, military, bureaucracy, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu). Even a trivial incident can provoke disenfranchised masses to riot.

According to Article 280 of Election Law No. 7/2017, rally participants are prohibited from, among other actions, the defamation of individuals, groups, religion, race and opposing parties, provocation, the use of violence and incitement of acts of violence. The law also bans any use of public facilities, places of worship or educational buildings for the rallies.

For presidential and legislative candidates, the next three weeks will allow them to convince the people to vote for them. The three presidential tickets – Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo-Gibran and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD – will likely focus on Java and Sumatra, where most of the population of the country lives. 

We do trust the President will show statesmanship by upholding impartiality. Otherwise, he will be unable to leave a long-lasting legacy for the nation after he ends his second five-year term in October this year. We also believe that he will strictly play his role as head of state and government, which is above all groups according to the Constitution.

Even if the campaign period has so far run in a relatively peaceful manner, the road to holding a democratic, free, just and fair election will remain challenging. Such a reality will only come true if voters can exercise their rights because of their conscience, rather than intimidation, cheating and vote-buying practices.

We should also remember that the threat of possible clashes between supporters of presidential and legislative candidates is still lurking and waiting for a trigger to explode. President Jokowi has all the power at his disposal to make sure this nightmare will not happen.