Medan 'election canteens' making huge profits

Medan 'election canteens' making huge profits

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The owners of several eateries in Medan have turned their
premises into 'election canteens', a move they say is drawing in
extra customers three weeks before the city's direct mayoral
elections.

The marketing gimmick was putting bums on seats and selling
more meals, said Suwondo, who for two weeks has decorated his
canteen with banners and posters supporting the election of two
candidates, Abdillah and Ramli.

"During normal days, I only make about Rp 150,000 profit a
day. But since I've turned my shop into an 'election canteen', I
can earn up to Rp 350,000 a day," Suwondo said.

Juices selling at Rp 4,000 a glass, were the most popular item
sold, with the canteen selling about 75 glasses a day, he said.
Most of the people attracted to the shop were related to the
Abdillah-Ramli campaign team or were interested members of the
public, he said.

"The customers prefer to drink as they mostly come here to sit
and hear people debating politics, or listen to or plan the
preparations of Abdillah and Ramli ahead of the mayoral
elections."

While placing banners, posters and other election materials up
in his shop was free advertising for the candidates, Suwondo said
he received no money from the team.

The campaign materials were cleared few days ago by the
Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), more than a week
before the campaign period officially started on June 10.

"They know that the canteen has become a hang-out for Abdillah
and Ramli supporters," Suwondo said.

Supporters of candidate pair Maulana Pohan and Sigit Pramono
Asri have also established an "election canteen" also with the
eventual consent of the Panwaslu.

Batara, the owner of a shop on Jl. Sisingamangaraja, has
turned his shop into an "Information Service Post for Maulana and
Sigit Supporters", as the banner on the roof reads.

"The sale of food and drinks is on the rise as many more
people come into the canteen to discuss politics and plan
strategy to help the pair win the election," Batara said.

The evenings were the busiest, Batara said, with some patrons
staying to talk about politics until 2 a.m.

Maulana-Sigit campaign manager Ikrimah said the team had
distributed more than 300 banners to eateries in the city,
including Batara's shop.

The establishment of the election canteens were the owners'
initiative and they received no money for doing so, Ikrimah said.

Abdillah-Ramli campaign manager Harmen Ginting said the
increased custom was reason enough for owners of eateries to
brand their shop houses with election materials.

"We never mobilized them -- they requested the election
materials from us. We have certainly helped them," he said.

Many other ethnic organizations and workers' groups had also
come out officially in support of certain candidates, Harmen
said, with "about 50" backing Abdillah-Ramli.

Only two candidate pairs are contesting the direct elections,
Abdillah-Ramli -- nominated by eight major political parties
including the Golkar Party the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P) and the Democratic Party -- and Maulana-Sigit,
running for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).