Party money keeps the 'dangdut' world swinging

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

General elections used to be ludicrously dubbed pesta demokrasi (festivals of democracy) to obscure the repressive nature of Soeharto's 32-year rule, which came to an end in 1998.

Like all good dictators, Soeharto blinded the public with the razzamatazz accompanying the carefully stage-managed elections, but prevented them from truly exercising their political rights.

It was Soeharto's political vehicle, Golkar, that introduced campaign entertainment in the form of pop music and singers in the early years of the autocrat's rule.

Five years after the fall of the regime little has changed in the way political parties go about their campaigning -- big on entertainment, but completely lacking in political substance.

During the 22-day campaign period until April 1, all the parties offered entertainment and giveaways to attract the crowds to their rallies.

When an estimated 100,000 people attended a rally by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the organizers had invited local rock bands Dewa and Jamrud to entertain them, along with scores of popular dangdut (local pop music) singers.

Dewa was reportedly paid Rp 300 million (US$35,000) for the PDI-P rally while dangdut singer Annisa Bahar, known for her erotic gyrations, managed to pocket Rp 40 million. For relatively obscure dangdut performers, the payout could range from between Rp 200,000 and Rp 1 million.

Dangdut singer Merisa Bela said that she had fared a little better than most lesser known artists -- above Rp 2 million per show, she said.

The aspiring star said that she had signed a contract with the Golkar Party to perform in the West Java towns of Cirebon and Indramayu, as well as in the capital, Jakarta.

"I'm singing for Golkar because they're paying me well. But I'm ready to sing for any party that pays me," she said, adding that she used the campaign rallies to promote her new album.

"I usually sing in front of only around 5,000 people, but during the rallies I've been playing in front of crowds of between 15,000 and 20,000 people. It's amazing," she said.

She said that performing at the rallies had enabled her to sing and dance in front of bigwigs, such as presidential aspirants Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto.

Moreska Niman, the manager of a Tangerang-based dangdut outfit, gave a different account.

"We were on stage more frequently as there were more parties inviting us to their rallies, but they paid us less on the grounds that the length of time we performed for was shorter than normal due to all the speeches from the candidates," he said.

Niman said that for a normal show, the six-strong group was paid between Rp 5 million and Rp 6 million compared to only Rp 4 million at a campaign rally.

Interviewed before the cooling off period, he said, "We hope the campaign period is over so we can get back to regular business."