Jakarta campaign teams shift strategy

Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta

Campaigners for presidential candidates realize they need to do much more legwork rather than waste time and money in gathering people to sparse campaign rallies.

This was the result of an evaluation of the first week of campaign strategies in the capital, where almost 6.5 million people voted in April's legislative election.

As the five presidential candidates need to hop from one city to another during the month-long campaigning period to July 2, their strategists in Jakarta are left to work the crowds themselves.

They have largely failed, most likely because they are almost unknown to voters, whom observers say are influenced principally by television.

At the various venues allocated for candidates there was little media coverage. "We've concluded that such campaigns do not necessarily reach large numbers of people. Therefore, we'll use new approaches," chairman of the Amien Rais-Siswono Yudohusodo campaign team Ahmad Somad Karim said.

Instead of public gatherings held by the team in the first week in the city's municipalities, there would be only "sympathetic" campaigns, Somad said.

Perhaps, given the weak penalties thus far imposed on violators of campaign rules, possible charges of "money politics" are seemingly being ignored by desperate campaign teams.

Somad said that in West Jakarta, his team would distribute packages of staple food to the poor. In Central Jakarta, volunteers would distribute badges carrying the images of Amien and Siswono. There would also be activities like cleaning up areas in South Jakarta, he said.

Deputy secretary for the Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid campaign team Jimmy Z. Rondonuwu said his 120-member team had met with many influential figures, who had direct access to people up to subdistrict level. He added that many others had been recruited for door-to-door campaigning.

"They will introduce our candidates from house to house, which is more effective and efficient (than public rallies)," he said.

Chairman of the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar team Ahmad Suaidy said his group was supported by a "shadow" team separate from that officially registered with the General Elections Commission (KPU). The commission has warned against possible abuse of finances with the existence of such "shadow" teams.

The "shadow" team is financed with a much larger amount of money than the official team, a member said.

Andi Natanael Manik of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's campaign team, however, said his team would still hold public gatherings as scheduled, despite unsatisfactory results.

"We will not modify the campaigns because we might be accused of violating our own agreement with the KPUD Jakarta," he said, referring to the Jakarta General Elections Commission.

KPUD Jakarta has drawn up a schedule for two types of campaign: Closed-door "dialogs" and monolog campaigns in the open air.

Each pair has one opportunity for an open-air campaign at the provincial level and five dialog sessions in all five municipalities and the Thousand Islands regency.

Nearly all campaign teams, except for that of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi, have suffered poorly attended rallies.

For instance, the campaigns held at the Senayan indoor basketball hall, Central Jakarta, attracted only a few hundred people, whereas the hall can accommodate 5,000.

Political analyst Indria Samego questioned the efficiency of dialog or monolog campaigns for two main reasons.

First, such campaigns were not interesting for people without the presence of the presidential candidates. Second, the campaigners had no strong political motivation, he said.

"They're not expecting seats now", as compared with the earlier legislative election, he said. Thus, the likelihood was candidates would spend most of their money on TV appearances, he said.

Agus Salim, who coordinates the Amien-Siswono campaign team in Central Jakarta, said he managed to collect only about Rp 2.5 million (US$268.81) from National Mandate Party (PAN) legislators-elect and other donors.

The money was spent on hiring a sound system, while banners were contributed by donors and supporters, he said.

He added that he did not even try to raise funds from teams at the higher level -- "I know they're also hard-pressed for money," Agus said.