It started when @rusyadimie replied to a Gerindra post, saying that the straps on one of his flip-flops had broken and he was finding it hard to get a new pair. The party replied and after some back-and-forth, he received a brand-new pair of flip-flops at home, courtesy of the @Gerindra admin.

Bang Mieh, a 34-year-old sales and marketing employee, told The Jakarta Post that he was not particularly interested in politics, nor was he a Gerindra supporter. He simply saw a joke posted by @Gerindra that popped up on his timeline and found it sufficiently entertaining to follow the account.

“I don’t follow [the Twitter accounts of] other political parties, just Gerindra. I really enjoy the account and think that whoever runs it must be a fun guy. Other political parties tend to be very serious and cold in their approach,” said Bang Mieh.

Gerindra has gained a “superstar” reputation, at least on Twitter, with over 625,000 followers, a feat largely attributed to the account admin’s engagement style. Aside from posting news about the party, the account admin frequently uploads memes and banters with followers using the latest trending vernacular.

Gerindra’s Twitter admin has given more than flip-flops to its followers. A quick tweet that mentions the party usually suffices for the user to earn a random freebie, such as makeup, skincare products or chocolate on Valentine’s Day. This combination of humor, responsiveness, relatability and generosity has allowed the party to reach younger audiences online.

Not speaking about politics all the time is apparently an effective way of engaging its followers in agreeable conversations.

“The approach works. Maybe because I’m a millennial,” said Bang Mieh.

He could be right. In terms of the number of Twitter followers, Gerindra trumps the two largest political parties, the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) followed by Golkar. The PDI-P’s Twitter account (@PDI_Perjuangan) has over 272,200 followers, while Golkar (@Golkar5) has just over 88,200 followers.

One-third of all voters

Bang Mieh is just one of the millions of Indonesians below 40 who are eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election who make up at least a third of the electorate.

Ella Prihatini, a Binus University political scientist who specializes in electoral studies, said this demographic posed a big challenge for candidates and their political parties in persuading millions of politically apathetic youths to vote for them.

She told the Post that political parties generally found today’s young voters “rather confusing and vague”.

“Their number is increasing, so their political aspirations matter,” Ella said. “I think that many of them are apathetic and will not vote, but [they have] general concern over issues like socioeconomic and environmental matters.”

One factor that contributed to youths’ apathy was the lack of engagement efforts among political parties that targeted them, she explained. While politicians were quick to declare their solidarity with youths and their care for the concerns of younger generations, Ella noted that youth were rarely involved in political discourse and decisions.

“These parties care for young people. But their support needs to be systematic and consistent. Engaging the youth should not only happen during campaigns, there needs to be [party] regeneration,” she said, adding that political parties were also responsible for political literacy among the country’s youth.

Other researchers have associated an apparent inability to appeal to youth and their concerns with Gerindra chairman Prabowo, who could make his fifth bid for the presidency in 2024.

While his candidacy remains unconfirmed, Prabowo has the highest electability at 22 percent, according to a February poll from Indikator Politik Indonesia.

However, Arya Fernandes, who heads the Politics and Social Change department at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Jakarta, was doubtful that Prabowo’s message would be well-received by younger voters, whose concerns might differ from their seniors.

Arya also underlined that 2024 would be Prabowo’s last chance, as he “would be too out of touch to win” in 2029.

Virtual popularity

Rahayu Saraswati, who heads Gerindra’s youth wing Tunas Indonesia Raya (Tidar), declined to speak at length about that party’s youth engagement strategy for 2024, telling the Post only that doing so now would “be showing our hand”.

Meanwhile, Ella noted that online support would not necessarily convert into real votes.

“Social media cannot be used as a reference for real-life conditions. These online platforms are great for circulating information and increasing awareness for the parties, but it has no statistical effect on actual electability,” she said.

According to global social media data agency We Are Social, Indonesia currently has 191 million social media users. WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are the three most popular platforms in the country, and although Twitter’s popularity has declined considerably over the past decade, it is still widely used.

A 2022 survey by Statista also ranked Indonesia fifth in the world for the highest number of Twitter users, with over 18 million active accounts.

Arani, a university student in Jambi who received a free skincare product via @Gerindra in late May, said that while she was fond of the party’s online engagement style, it would not affect her vote.

“Yes, I think Gerindra’s approach is effective. But no, I don’t think it will change my [vote]. It is not that serious,” she told the Post.

As for Bang Mieh, he said his digital interaction with the party was still insufficient to persuade him to vote for Gerindra in 2024.

“I think other parties should learn something from [Gerindra]. When it comes to the elections, though, of course this does not guarantee my vote,” he said.