Lessons from U.S. presidential primary<\/p>\n
The Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire, the
\nUnited States, was won by Pat Buchanan who may go on to challenge
\nBill Clinton for the White House. Mochtar Buchori looks at this
\npresidential race and reflects on the upcoming general elections
\nin Indonesia in 1997.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The difference between political campaigning in
\nthe United States and in Indonesia is quite obvious.
\nNevertheless, CNN coverage of the Republican primary in New
\nHampshire can serve to boost our political maturity.<\/p>\n
Two results of this primary are especially significant. One is
\nthat billionaire Steve Forbes was in effect knocked out of the
\nrace for the Republican presidential candidacy. He received only
\n12 percent of the vote. The second is that negative campaigning
\nwhich is designed to vilify rival candidates backfired, not only
\non those who practiced it, but also against the spirit of
\ncampaigning in general.<\/p>\n
As I understand it, Steve Forbes was eliminated from the race
\nbecause the Republican grassroots simply refused to believe that
\nhe is \"one of them\". Those in the grassroots perceive Forbes as
\nan \"outsider\", a person who cannot possibly represent their
\ninterests and aspirations. How can such a wealthy person be one
\nof the grassroots? His huge expenditure to buy advertisements
\nfailed to convince the Republican rank and files that he is a
\nperson who understands their concerns and is willing to fight for
\nthem.<\/p>\n
The fact that Pat Buchanan has come out as the winner --
\nalbeit with a very slim margin -- was a big surprise to most
\nparties. Before the New Hampshire primary, most observers thought
\nthat senator Bob Dole would come out from this political contest
\nas the winner, and with a convincing majority. As it turned out
\nhe got only 27 percent of the votes against 28 percent for
\nBuchanan.<\/p>\n
This outcome means, according to some political analysts, that
\nthe Republican votes in new Hampshire were very badly fragmented.
\nAnd some consider this one of the results of negative campaigning
\nby some candidates.<\/p>\n
It was also suggested that the very high turnout among
\nRepublican registered voters in this primary -- 76 percent if I
\nremember correctly -- was another result of this negative
\ncampaigning. This type of campaigning caused so much concern
\namong voters that they decided to go to the polls to stop
\npoliticians they considered unfit to become presidential
\ncandidates.<\/p>\n
Is there something in this that is useful to us?<\/p>\n
There are two things which can be learned from this foreign
\nexperience. One is that it is very important for every political
\ncontender to be viewed by the electorate as being \"one of us\" and
\ntwo, that it is equally important for every contender to conduct
\nhis or her campaign in a positive way, that is by informing the
\npeople how the contender perceives problems that affect the
\nfuture of the entire nation, and how in the contender's view
\nthese problems should best be solved.<\/p>\n
This means that each contender must try to avoid campaign
\npractices aimed at discrediting rival contenders.<\/p>\n
Let us examine carefully each of these two premises.<\/p>\n
The \"he is not one of us\" sentiment manifests itself in a
\ndifferent way here. What we will find among our grassroots is a
\nperception concerning who each of our three political contenders
\nstands for.<\/p>\n
I know it is not nice to say this, but most people in our
\nsociety still consider PPP \"a party for Moslems\", Golkar for
\n\"government officials\", and PDI for \"nationalists and non-
\nMoslems\". We can argue -- and indeed we must argue -- that this
\nis not true. But I think this is the unpleasant reality we will
\nfind, if we are willing to see the truth.<\/p>\n
This has been made worse by the fact that a significant
\nportion of our electorate does not feel represented by our
\npolitical contenders. There are many Moslems who do not feel
\nrepresented by the PPP, and there are many nominal nationalists
\nwho do not feel represented by PDI. These people do not feel
\nmorally obliged to vote for PPP or PDI. And apart from government
\nofficials there are not many people who feel represented by
\nGolkar either.<\/p>\n
The question that has to be pondered now is how to develop a
\ncampaigning strategy to generate this \"one of us\" feeling among
\nthe electorate.<\/p>\n
Only if we can do this will we be able to generate real
\nenthusiasm for the coming general election. Only if we can do
\nthis will each of our political contenders be able to get votes
\nwithout resorting to \"forceful persuasion\". Only if we can do
\nthis will each of our political contenders be able not only to
\nget votes, but to get real a real mandate from the electorate.<\/p>\n
Laws and regulations will be honored only if there is a
\nmandate from the electorate, from the people. A political victory
\nin a general election without being followed and backed up by
\nfirm commitment in implementing national programs does not
\nsignify much.<\/p>\n
Has there been negative campaigning in the past? I think it is
\nvery hard to answer this question honestly and truthfully. Thus
\nperhaps it is wiser to ask the equivalent of this question: did
\nwe behave positively enough in our past political campaigns?<\/p>\n
The signs of positive campaigning is that the electorate has
\nbecome fully aware of the urgent problems that have to be solved,
\nand that it lends support willingly to national programs aimed at
\nsolving those problems.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian electorate is different from the American
\nelectorate. That cannot be disputed. But it is also an
\nindisputable fact that the Indonesian electorate in 1997 will be
\ndifferent from the Indonesian electorate in 1992 and 1987.<\/p>\n
Are we ready to treat the Indonesian electorate in a new and
\nmore democratic way?<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and political affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/lessons-from-us-presidential-primary-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }