Most parties still use old mathods to lure voters<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Campaign methods used to woo voters differ
\nlittle from procedures used in the past, with entertainment
\nprevailing over political education.<\/p>\n
Muhammad Budyatna of Indonesia University and Hermawan
\nSulistyo of the National Institute of Science made the
\nobservation separately to The Jakarta Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"Campaign directors fall short of knowing how to deal with the
\nmasses and finally resort to offering empty and irrational
\npromises to people,\" Budyatna, a mass communications expert,
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"This has happened for decades and people won't ask for
\nchanges because they are used to the old campaigning methods.
\nPeople are used to being fooled (by campaigners).\"<\/p>\n
Hermawan concurred, saying people went to a campaign rally
\njust for fun. \"The fact that many children join the rallies
\nproves that an electoral campaign offers nothing but amusement.\"<\/p>\n
The first week of the campaign period passed relatively
\nsmoothly, except for some disruptions to rallies held by the
\nruling Golkar Party. As in the past, deafening round-the-town
\nmotorcades have been the main component of campaign rallies.<\/p>\n
Violations to traffic regulations and campaign rules have been
\nrampant during the street rallies, ranging from reckless driving
\nto the absence of motorbike helmets. So far, two party supporters
\nhave died in street rally incidents, on Sunday in Jakarta, and in
\nUjungpandang, South Sulawesi, last week.<\/p>\n
Police have apparently turned a blind eye to the offenses, in
\nspite of their early pledge to enforce strict measures against
\nviolators. Bandung police, for example, decided to exempt rally
\nattendants from punishment for breaking traffic laws, as long as
\nthey did not endanger the public.<\/p>\n
Budyatna said party executives still relied on mass
\nmobilizations because they believed that a show of force would
\nimpress the public more than a smaller forum which was usually
\nrestricted to educated people.<\/p>\n
\"The larger the mass which takes to streets in support of a
\nparty, the greater the chance people may think of it of winning
\nmost of the vote in the June polls,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Coercion<\/p>\n
Budyatna said the lack of \"more educated\" campaign methods was
\nalso attributable to political coercion suffered by people during
\nthe three-decade reign of the New Order regime, as well as
\neconomic hardship, which is widespread throughout the country.<\/p>\n
\"People feel they find (in street rallies) their deserved
\ncompensation for political and economic pressures,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Budyatna, to some extent, such a reason accounted
\nfor the current repeated acts of violence against Golkar, the
\npolitical machine exploited by the New Order to maintain power in
\nthe past.<\/p>\n
\"While many Golkar supporters are afraid of joining rallies,
\nmore people are sympathetic to the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan) which has become the symbol of
\nresistance to a coercive regime.\"<\/p>\n
Hermawan warned that current mass mobilizations were
\nvulnerable to clashes between supporters of rival parties,
\nparticularly in areas where socioeconomic, ethnic and religious
\ndifferences would easily spark conflicts.<\/p>\n
\"There will be no communal clashes which involve millions of
\nparty supporters. Conflicts will be small in size, but more
\nfrequent.\"<\/p>\n
He said he was more aware of the dangers of current election-
\nrelated violence, mainly because it would involve children, who
\nare commonly seen joining rallies.<\/p>\n
Both Budyatna and Hermawan agreed that it was up to the
\nparties to improve their campaign methods.<\/p>\n
\"Most of the parties are in the process of building up their
\nidentity because they were born less than a year ago. I believe
\neverything will be better in the next elections, especially
\nbecause only a few of the present 48 parties will survive (the
\nprocess of) natural selection,\" Budyatna said.<\/p>\n
He welcomed public debates featuring party leaders, saying
\nthey were an excellent method for people to make a selection from
\nthe range of parties.<\/p>\n
\"But many of the debates turned into an exchange of insults,
\nwhile at the same time the audience were not critical enough to
\nquiz the campaigners over their respective platforms,\" Budyatna
\nsaid. (amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/most-parties-still-use-old-mathods-to-lure-voters-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}