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JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Pilkada 2020 has attracted quite a bit of attention with several candidates emerging from the family of Indonesia’s number one person, President Joko Widodo or familiarly named Jokowi.
Indonesia on Wednesday (9/12/2020) held elections of regional chiefs (Pilkada) with more than 100 million people entitled to elect political leaders in 270 regions.
In this Pilkada governors are determined in 9 of 34 provinces, regents in 224 of 416 districts and mayors in 37 of 98 cities.
Jokowi’s first son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is running for mayor in Solo.
Gibran appears to be following in the footsteps of his father, who began his government career as mayor of Solo in 2005, before serving two terms as president of Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Jokowi’s son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, is running for mayor in Medan.
Quick counts by various local pollsters showed Gibran had nearly 90 percent of the vote in Wednesday’s election.
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While not all votes have been counted, their lead is wide enough to guarantee their victory, as reported Nikkei Asia on Wednesday.
The official results will be announced on December 15. If confirmed to win, Gibran will become Mayor of Solo in February.
Several foreign media have highlighted Pilkada in Indonesia this year as a new political dynasty to be born.
Both Gibran and Bobby are newcomers to the world of Indonesian politics.
However, they have received support from a major political party, where Jokowi is located, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), despite fighting other promising cadres who have been working in the PDIP for a longer time.
“If they are ordinary citizens or politicians, they won’t get that ticket easily,” said Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute. Bloomberg on Tuesday (8/12/2020).
“The Jokowi family will join forces with other clubs from political dynasties that are fighting for power and resources,” Mudhoffir continued.
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“Indonesian politics will remain the same, or even get worse because dynasty and nepotism will become the new normal,” he explained.
Critics have now questioned whether Jokowi is trying to build his own political dynasty. Nikkei Asia on Wednesday (12/9/2020).
Meanwhile, political dynasties are an idea that Jokowi wants to avoid by distancing himself from the political ambitions of his son and son-in-law by denying any claims about his family’s political dynasty.
“I have never forced my children to follow me or get into politics, there is no such thing,” Jokowi said in an interview with Compass TV, Last November, quoted from Bloomberg.
“It is a political right of all citizens, including my children,” he continued.
Calls to the presidential spokesman for comment were not immediately returned.
Launching BloombergGibran responded briefly to the issue of the growing dynasty, saying that it did not guarantee electoral victory.
“It’s a contest, not a promise,” he said after his candidacy was announced in July.
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In Pilkada 2020, in addition to Jokowi’s family participating in this political contest, several relatives of other state officials also participated in the candidacy, as cited in the report. Nikkei Asia.
Among them, Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo Subianto’s nephew, is running for deputy mayor of South Tangerang, Banten.
In the same city, Siti Nur Azizah, Amin’s daughter, is running for mayor.
They will fight each other.
Hanindhito Himawan Pramono, son of Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, is running for district chief of Kediri, East Java.
The same family has held the position for more than 20 years.
Elsewhere, the younger brother of the minister of agriculture and the nephew of former vice president Jusuf Kalla aspires to become mayor of Makassar. Meanwhile, the Labor Minister’s younger brother is running for Deputy Regent of Mojokerto.
Yoes Kenawas, a political science Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, found there were 52 candidates for such political dynasties in 2015, but this year’s Pilkada had at least 146 people.
That is “the most in Indonesian history so far,” Kenawas was quoted as saying. Al Jazeera on Tuesday (8/12/2020).
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Kenawas, who has also studied political dynasties in Indonesia, said the increase was possible because many politicians who were elected in 2010 and 2015 have served two terms, so they can no longer run for public office.
Later, many of them saw their own families as the best candidates to defend their legacy and political interests.
“This is the first time in Indonesian history where the president’s sons and in-laws are active, the vice president’s sons and even the ministers’ sons directly participate in the elections of regional chiefs when their parents or relatives are still in the charge, “he said.
“Political dynasties are increasingly proven as indicators of space to compete, although they are still broad, but increasingly narrow,” he added, quoted by the press. Al Jazeera.
Aisah Putri Budiatri, a researcher at the Indonesian Science Institute’s Center for Political Studies (LIPI), said this year’s elections showed “the failure of political parties to recruit regional leading candidates based on internal party cadres.”
“Many of these kinship candidates are not politicians with experience in the field of candidacy and have not yet built deep-rooted networks, either within the party or with the communities in their constituencies,” he said. Al Jazeera.
Launching Inter Press Service on Tuesday (8/12/2020), an academic of political communication from Esa Unggul University, M. Jamiluddin Ritonga, said: “The principle of meritocracy with aspects of eligibility and competence is an absolute requirement to support the quality of a candidate “.
Meanwhile, the professor of the Political Commissioner of Pelita Harapan University, Emrus Sihombing, emphasized that the development of party cadres is important.
“Give at least 10 years before a party cadre becomes an executive or legislative candidate,” Emrus said.
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