Rise of PKS, PD 'result of more political awareness'

Rise of PKS, PD 'result of more political awareness'

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The emergence of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the
Democratic Party as the two parties that have garnered the most
votes for the Jakarta City Council has come as something of a
surprise.

As of 8:30 p.m. on Friday, the PKS had taken 894,801 votes, or
around 23.15 percent of the overall vote, followed by the
Democratic party with 781,860 votes, or 20.23 percent, according
to the provisional results issued by the General Elections
Commissions (KPU).

The PKS, which contested the 1999 elections under the name of
the Justice Party (PK), only got four seats on the council back
then. As for the Democratic Party, this is the first year it has
contested the election.

Sociologist Paulus Wirutomo told The Jakarta Post that the
fact that the PKS and Democratic Party had emerged seemingly out
of nowhere was a reflection of the public's political awareness
and intelligence.

"People living in urban areas, even the uneducated, have begun
to realize that the government does bad things to them, such as
carrying out evictions. They know that they have to pick other
alternatives such as the PKS or the Democratic Party," he said.

"People see the PKS as being the one party that is well
organized, highly disciplined, able to work as a team and which
has spirited party members. They are tireless going door to door
campaigning for their party."

Paulus also said that most of the two parties' voters were not
bound to the parties, and many were swing voters. However, he
said that this was a sign that Indonesian people were becoming
more rational in selecting who to vote for.

"This attitude is definitely a good sign. These political
parties realize that their voters will turn to other parties if
they don't keep their promises in government," he said.

Therefore, he added, these parties would try hard to secure
their positions by performing well so that their voters would not
desert them.

Paulus further explained that while there were still many
traditional voters in urban areas, the majority of these were
found in rural areas. If they voted for a particular party in
previous elections, they would vote for that party again.

This is what happened to the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P), which currently dominates the city council with
29 seats.

"The PDI-P is definitely a strong party with a lot of money.
Therefore, they can easily win support from the people," he said.

The KPU online ballot count stated that 75-year-old cosmetics
businesswoman Mooryati Soedibyo still topped the Regional
Representative Council (DPD) poll with 442,031 votes.

She was followed by veteran politician Sarwono Kusumaatmadja
with 431,363 votes, native Jakartan (Betawi) radio entrepreneur
Biem Triani Benyamin with 340,485 votes and Marwan Batubara in
the fourth place with 299,737 votes.