Mayoral candidates pull out all stops

Mayoral candidates pull out all stops

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

That morning, a well-built man in his 40s came to Tanjungkarang
train station wearing a black suit, followed by officials from
state railway PT Kereta Api Indonesia.

"Let's ask Pak Heriyanto, he's our mayoral candidate,"
prompted one of the officials.

In a flash, acting like a real mayor himself, Heriyanto
chatted with train passengers, asking them about the train
company's services.

The 41-year-old, a businessman who owns several car showrooms
in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, is a candidate for mayor in the
Bandarlampung mayoral election slated for mid June this year.

On that particular morning, he came to the station on an
"impromptu visit" along with a group of journalists and
photographers who were busy capturing the moment on camera. The
next day, his face was all over several local newspapers.

A couple of days later, Heriyanto again showed up at Way Halim
market in Bandarlampung. At the traditional market, he approached
almost every trader simply to introduce himself or chat with
them.

"I'm Heriyanto, I am asking for your blessings to run for
mayor," he told every trader, while stopping once in a while to
buy some necessities, from vegetables to clothing.

That's his campaign style approach; showing up in public
places to win people's sympathy.

For Heriyanto, introducing himself is very important since he
lives in Jakarta although he was born and raised in
Bandarlampung.

Apart from visiting public places, he also placed ads in
Lampung Post daily. This month alone, he has placed three ads.

Since he passed the preliminary selection of the Democratic
Party, his face and slogan have appeared regularly in a two-
column ad in the daily. He reportedly spent around Rp 100 million
(US$11,111) on advertising during his campaign.

His strategy has proven effective. According to an opinion
poll by the Democratic Party, he had gained 4,882 supporters as
of Thursday evening.

He beat other more prominent candidates such as former
chairman of Bandarlampung Golkar Party Edy Sutrisno and chairman
of Indonesian Coffee Importers Association in Bandarlampung,
Nuril Hakim. Edy won 2,362 votes while Nuril got 877.

Darussalam, a 43-year-old candidate for Bandarlampung deputy
mayor from the Democratic Party also made good use of the media
in his campaign.

In the last four months, chairman of the Batanghari Sembilan
Community in Bandalampung, an organization who members are from
the Komering ethnic group and Bengkulu, has placed his photo and
ambulance service in two-column ad in Lampung Post daily.

Darussalam said the ambulance service was intended for social
purposes, and true to his word, none of the users were charged,
except for gasoline and meals for the ambulance driver.

Again, his campaign was effective. In a poll conducted by the
party, Darussalam ranked first with 5,181 supporters, while his
rivals Zamzani Yasin and Julian Manaf, also from the same party,
only gained 2,006 and 721 respectively.

The role of the print media in the campaign was recognized by
communication expert Nanang Trenggone of the Lampung University.
However, he asserted there was no guarantee that the candidates,
who used the media in their campaign, could win the election.

"Lampung people don't have the habit of reading. The total
number of newspapers copies are around 30,000. Assuming a paper
is read by four people, that's only 120 newspapers readers. In
reality, the number of eligible voters are 549,325," Nanang said.

He added that it would not be easy to influence readers to
vote for certain candidate since the voters in the city were more
rational than those in the rural villages.

Media watch activist Budi Santoso Budiman of the Lampung Media
Center found the media was biased in their reports on several
candidates. He noticed that the activities of candidates who did
not place ads in the newspapers, were rarely reported in the
newspapers.

"On the contrary, the candidates who placed ads would be
frequently reported. Their photos would appear in the paper
although they have no news value," Budi said.

He said the local media in Lampung province would
traditionally support advertisers, not only during the direct
election of regional head or general election.

"So, don't expect to read any negative reports about the
advertisers. The tabloids and weeklies are even worse, it's hard
to find out whether their reports are advertisements or not,"
Budi said.

Lampung Post chief editor Djadjat Sudradjat said his paper was
open to all candidates.

"We're objective and not taking the side of a particular
candidate. In order to prevent bias, our paper has taken
precautions, such as by distributing circulars preventing our
journalists from becoming a member of a candidate's success team.
If we found out that they have done so, there will be sanctions,"
Djadjat said.