Ethnic issue comes to fore in Lampung

Ethnic issue comes to fore in Lampung

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

Ahead of upcoming direct mayoral elections on June 27, political
tensions in Metro, a city of 131,000, have heightened due to the
emergence of ethnic issues.

Two rival groups vying with each other in the election are the
ethnic Javanese on the one hand, and natives of Lampung along
with the Komering community from South Sumatra on the other.

Vice Mayor Lukman Hakim, who is seeking to become Mayor in the
upcoming direct elections, represents the Javanese group, while
Mayor Mozes Herman, who is seeking reelection, the Lampung-
Komering group. Rivalry between Lukman and Mozes has intensified
recently, and they have publicly ridiculed each other on a number
of occasions. In one instance, Lukman, 45, quipped that he had
thus far not been delegated any authority as vice mayor by Mozes.
However, Mozes retorted that it was ludicrous for the vice mayor
not to know the division of labor between Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Support for Lukman has grown by the day. Although he is not
the only Javanese candidate in the election, he is more well-
known by Metro people.

A survey conducted in January by the Community Development
Foundation, an independent organization in Metro, placed him as
the most popular mayoral candidate. Many political parties are
also interested in him.

"Just by sitting nicely at home, Lukman can win the election
with the support of ethnic Javanese in Metro. Only character
assassination can stop him becoming mayor because 72 percent of
the population in Metro are of Javanese origin.

"Lukman, whose parents came from Java, is a bureaucrat, has a
very good chance to win," said a political observer from the
Strategic Policy Study Center, Mahendra Utama.

According to Mahendra, the issue of ethnicity sells well in
Metro because the Javanese feel they have been marginalized. In
spite of their majority presence in the city, most officials in
the bureaucracy are non-Javanese, similar to other areas in
Lampung, such as in East and Central Lampung, and Way Kanan
regencies.

The transmigration program which began during the Dutch
colonial period and ended in the 1990s saw many people,
especially from the densely populated island of Java, resettle in
Lampung.

In the 1990s, many new townships emerged and made Lampung the
second most populous province in Sumatra after North Sumatra.
Natives of Lampung were eventually forced to move to the
outskirts.

Data from the Central Statistics Bureau showed that in the
2004 elections the population of Lampung natives was less than
the Javanese population. Ethnic Javanese comprised 61 percent of
Lampung's population last year.

The post-New Order government -- the so-called reformasi era
from May, 1998 -- introduced direct elections for regional
leaders, and this has aroused the political spirit of people in
Lampung.

While the New Order created sectarian political conflict, in
which supporters of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah
confronted each other, in the upcoming direct elections a new
phenomenon is emerging in the form of ethnic politics. Ethnic
politics is becoming increasingly obvious in the six regencies
and mayoralties preparing for the direct elections.

The practice started with the emergence of the ethnically
based Lampung Sai mass organization. In the Lampung gubernatorial
election in December, 1997, Lampung Sai had backed Nurdin
Muhayat, the then provincial secretary of Lampung, as its
candidate. However, the former regent of Wonogiri, Central Java,
Oemarsono, was eventually elected as governor, probably after
instructions from Jakarta.

Oemarsono's appointment, reportedly backed by then-president
Soeharto, caused a wave of protests with much anti-Javanese
sentiment. After having failed to win the gubernatorial election
in 1997, Lampung Sai continued campaigning for natives of Lampung
to hold the posts of governor, regent and mayor.

Eventually, Lampung Sai succeeded in placing police Insp. Gen.
Sjachroedin Z.P. as Lampung governor in the election in May last
year, after getting support from the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDIP).

A political observer from the Bandarlampung University,
Jauhari Zailani, said that the phenomenon of ethnic politics in
Lampung could not be stopped because it was now deeply ingrained.

Since parting from South Sumatra to become a separate
province, not a single native of Lampung has been elected as
governor.

According to Jauhari, the ethnic politics being propagated
ahead of the forthcoming elections may well lead to grassroots
conflict.