Jakarta – The first week of the open campaign period saw many political parties rely on old strategies to address the different challenges facing them in the general elections.
It was the undisputed king of dangdut, Rhoma Irama, who managed to draw a huge crowd to an election rally hosted by the United Development Party (PPP) last week.
The same trick was exploited by the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party when it let a bevy top dangdut singers dominate its four-hour rally in Sunter, North Jakarta. The entertainers sang songs with the name of the party and its presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto worked into the lyrics.
The Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party fielded their big guns at their rallies in Jakarta to draw the crowds – the bigger, the better, albeit at the expense of those who had to bear the brunt of the resulting traffic gridlock.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Democratic Party's chief patron, had to apologize to the public for the inconvenience caused.
Last December, the Constitutional Court annulled a regulation allowing party leaders to handpick close supporters for seats in legislative bodies. Consequently, the legislative seats will now go to individual candidates who win the most votes.
The major change has forced candidates to spend much more money promoting themselves, but many parties failed to anticipate the move.
Instead of allocating more time introducing their financially exhausted candidates, the parties held capacity-crowd rallies to promote their presidential candidates or perform music shows.
PPP Jakarta branch campaign manager Yulte Marjun said the party had deliberately prevented its legislative candidates from speaking during rallies to maintain fair competition among them.
"We asked our registered campaigners to speak at the campaign stage on behalf of all the candidates," Yulte told The Jakarta Post recently.
Egy Massadiah, a House of Representatives hopeful from the Golkar Party, admitted it was hard for legislative candidates to steal the show during a public gathering, with most supporters only familiar with the party's more prominent figures.
"Also, it's almost impossible for us to deliver our personal platform, as rally attendants will easily get tired," Egy told the Post on Monday.
Rustam Effendi, a National Awakening Party (PKB) candidate said it was not important for candidates to join rallies as long as they could hang on to their grassroots voter base.
"Rather than pay the transportation costs for supporters to go to the rally venue, I prefer spending money on social activities," Rustam, who has spent more than Rp 600 million on his bid, told the Post. "The number of rally attendants does not guarantee the party's victory." (hwa)