Biographies of candidates sell like hotcakes
Biographies of candidates sell like hotcakes
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta
Indonesians may not be so keen on literature but bookstores
across the country have nevertheless benefited from the hype
surrounding the country's first ever direct presidential
election.
In any bookstore or sidewalk book kiosk in Jakarta, you will
find yourself greeted by glowing pictures of presidential and
vice presidential candidates on the cover of books about them.
Five candidates -- Wiranto, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Amien
Rais, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Hamzah Haz -- are contesting
the July 5 presidential election. Almost all of them have had
their biographies published.
An employee of Gramedia bookstores, one of the largest
bookstore chains in the country, on Jl. Matraman Raya, East
Jakarta, for example, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that
books about presidential and vice presidential candidates were
currently in high demand.
"The biographies of candidates are among the biggest sellers
these days," said Budi.
He said biographies of presidential candidates Wiranto, Susilo
and Amien Rais were selling like hot cakes.
The bookstore sells the biographies of several candidates,
with prices ranging from Rp 20,000 (US$2.20) for a soft cover
version to Rp 250,000 for hard cover.
People from the lower income brackets can go to Senen in
Central Jakarta, where books, often counterfeit, are more
affordable. Dozens of sidewalk book kiosks offer new and second-
hand books and biographies of the candidates.
A book vendor in Senen told the Post earlier this week that he
sold up to 10 biographies of presidential candidates on weekdays
and more than a dozen at weekends.
"It's normal. All you have to do is know what the buyers
need," he said.
Deny Rumeser, a buyer, said he had bought several books on
presidential candidates because he wanted to know more about
them.
"I want to get to know who they really are. It is interesting
to find out how they grew up or how they take care of their
families. You know, they usually only talk about things I don't
understand during the campaign," he told the Post.
The presidential campaign kicked off on June 1 and will end on
July 1, three days before polling day on July 5.
Deny complained, however, that most of the books were not
well-written.
Indeed, some people had taken advantage of the election hype
by publishing books about the candidates without having any
regard to quality.
An virtually unheard of publisher, for example, has published
a book containing media clippings about Susilo, the most popular
presidential candidate according to some polls. The preface was
written by someone claiming to be a journalist. It is sold for Rp
10,000 per copy.
Usamah Hisyam, the author of book titled SBY Sang Demokrat
(SBY: The Democrat), said he knew nothing about the other books
on Susilo.
"The official biography of Susilo is SBY Sang Demokrat. I
don't know who wrote the others but none of them are official
biographies," he said.
He denied that the biography was written to boost Susilo's
popularity during the campaign. According to Usamah, the
biography was written in September last year.
"I offered to write his biography and he agreed. I finished
writing in February and the next thing I knew was that he had
been named a presidential candidate," Usamah said.
Later on, however, Usamah wrote a mini biography of Susilo
titled Sang Kandidat (The Candidate), which costs Rp 30,000 a
copy. The publisher has printed 150,000 copies, some 80 percent
of which have been sold.
"I wrote Sang Kandidat for campaign purposes. That is why it
is sold at Rp 30,000 a copy -- so as many people as possible can
buy it," he said.