Policies take a back seat in battle of I'nesia personalities
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Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the leading presidential hopeful, Joko Widodo, to address public concerns about his ability to lead if elected.
Yudhoyono’s remarks, in a YouTube interview last Saturday, were reported on the Cabinet Secretariat website on Sunday and echoes a theme that has run throughout the campaign that just concluded: Popularity aside, what are Joko’s plans for his country?
Joko’s main rival, Gerindra Party’s Prabowo Subianto, has accused Joko of being a puppet who will do his master’s bidding.
Joko has responded by saying he is the “people’s puppet”.
That comeback is a reflection of the three-week general election campaign, which ended on Saturday, as a whole – big on personalities and short on policy details.
There were also plenty of attacks on the outgoing administration for a lack of leadership and corruption, as well as a flurry of campaign promises.
Absent was any real cut thrust on whose programmes serve Indonesia best.
Calling on Joko, known as Jokowi, and others to debate policies, Yudhoyono said: “Voters will be able to decide who is the best person to be president after my term ends.”
Yudhoyono’s term ends on October 20, and the outcome of tomorrow’s general election will determine which parties or group of parties get at least 20 per cent of seats or 25 per cent of the votes to field a pairing for the July 9 presidential poll.
Observers have also lamented this lack of serious debate on issues.
Of course, the focus on personalities is not confined to Indonesian politics. Around the world, omnipresent TV coverage and social media feed off the pulling power of key figures, and can eclipse policy discussions.
While observers acknowledge that this may be what voters want, they say that 16 years and four elections after the era of strongman Suharto, a more educated populace deserves more from their politicians, given the challenges facing the country.
“Political campaigns should enlighten national life and be dignified,” Professor Ikrar Nusa Bhakti of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences wrote in leading daily Kompas on Saturday. “Various forms of negative campaigning should have been replaced by a campaign that competes on programmes.”
Parties like the PDI-P and Gerindra tend to adopt a more nationalist tone on issues, and Golkar and the Democrats portray themselves as the party of the middle ground, but in reality, when it comes to policies, there are few sharp ideological distinctions between them.
Dr Hui Yew-Foong, coordinator of the Indonesia Studies Group at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, says rather than building up and promoting platforms on various issues, parties have focused on getting electable candidates to get more votes.
“In order to attract voters and alienate as few as possible, most parties have adopted rather centrist positions, such that what differentiates them would be the political personalities that they have come to be identified with,” he told The Straits Times.
Like the PDI-P and Gerindra, the bulk of campaign ads for Golkar zoom in on its presidential aspirant Aburizal Bakrie, while the Democrat Party often highlights the achievements of President Yudhoyono.
