DPD candidates find new ways of campaigning
DPD candidates find new ways of campaigning
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Perhaps Bambang Warih Koesoemo wants to convey the message
straightforwardly. To every constituent he meets during his
political campaign these days, the former legislator hands his
name card. Below his name it reads "Senator".
Yes, Bambang is campaigning to be a member of the Regional
Representatives Council (known locally by its acronym DPD), the
closest equivalent to a U.S. senator.
The former legislator, who is now an activist, aspires to join
Indonesia's newest political creation, since the DPD was only
incorporated into the system for this year's election.
DPD candidates, who are not party-based, will be elected
directly by voters on April 5 in the first DPD election.
The country's 32 provinces will have four DPD members each in the
People's Consultative Assembly, which will also include members
of the House of Representatives.
Bambang, and former minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, both DPD
candidates from Jakarta, are a rare breed in politics here --
they have dared to break with past campaigning practices.
The two candidates have shunned the old campaign methods --
long speeches, musical entertainment and street parades.
"For me, political campaigning doesn't simply mean winning as
many votes as possible: It's part of the lengthy process of
political education. Therefore, I prefer to talk with voters in
an informal way," said Bambang on Wednesday, a founder of a non
governmental organization, Uni Sosial Demokrat (Unisosdem).
Bambang has therefore declined to use buildings offered by the
Jakarta General Elections Commission thus far.
During the first and second rounds of campaigning, he said, he
held talks with marginalized people such as the homeless and
those targeted for eviction by the city administration. Jakarta
is notorious for its often brutal eviction programs.
Bambang said he preferred to talk directly with people because
he would get first-hand information about their problems.
He said that he realized that by this method of campaigning he
would not reach a huge number of voters. Therefore, he said, he
had also employed other methods like distributing three million
copies of printed material, which had cost him Rp 500 million
(US$ 59,000). These comprise 40 types of posters, stickers,
leaflets, booklets and other printed matter.
The reason? "Because I don't want only to introduce myself as
a DPD candidate. I want also to educate the people about many
things," he said.
Separately, Sarwono said that his preference to talk with
voters was based on a conviction that they did not take
politicians' speeches seriously.
"They've heard it all before," he said.
Campaigning via discussion, he said, would impress the public
because they would become actively involved. Sarwono did not
restrict his discussion to people in meeting places but at other
venues too, including voters' homes.
"With such an informal situation, I want people to express
their ideas, complain about anything." Their aspirations would
become a valuable contribution if he was elected, said Sarwono,
who is also a former secretary-general of the Golkar Party.
He said he had used discussion-based campaigning while he was
still in Golkar, the formidable political machine of former
president Soeharto that managed to keep the autocrat in power for
more than three decades.
He said the 22-day period for campaigning was less than
adequate but was using it to remind the public about him and his
past activities.
"You can't expect too much from campaigning if you haven't
previously made any political investment -- if you did nothing
for people in the past," Sarwono, a former activist, added.