Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle hopes to tap into the country's substantial and often politically apathetic youth to win more votes in the 2014 presidential elections.
Buttressing this new strategy was a national coordination meeting for hundreds of the party's young members at its South Jakarta compound on Wednesday.
Maruarar Sirait, chairman for youth and sports affairs for the party, known as the PDI-P, reckoned there were more than 73 million Indonesians aged 18 to 31.
If the party can win the support of 15 percent of them in the next election, "it will help the party to get at least 25 percent of the total vote." Maruarar hopes a push to enlist young role models including influential activists will translate into votes.
"We are going to recruit youth leaders, farmer and fishing leaders, young intellectuals and sportsmen to help us with the program," he said.
With only 107 million votes cast in the 2009 elections, analysts predict the youth vote could be a potential boon for parties in the next election, provided they can win over a traditionally distrustful and apathetic demographic.
Rizky Maulana, a senior high school student from Jakarta who was a speaker at the meeting, said most young Indonesians had such little trust in political parties that campaign pledges usually fell on deaf ears.
Most young voters today, he said, would only back a party if it was able to prove itself sincere.
"If PDI-P wants to recruit new members from students, don't forget to involve them in activities, and give scholarships to poor students or students who do well in certain fields," he said.
Firmanzah, a party member who was elected the youngest dean of the University of Indonesia's School of Economics last year at the age of 32, added that a special focus on education and inspirational role models would also help the PDI-P attract younger supporters.
"I suggest the PDI-P start the program by giving special attention to education. Indonesia only has around 4.6 million young people with bachelor's degrees out of a total of 73 million, and only 7.1 percent of [those with degrees] are women," he said.
"Helping to increase the number of educated Indonesians would be huge for the party."
Firmanzah also backed the plan to hold up young PDI-P members as role models for their peers.
Arif Mustopha, chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Students Association (HMI), highlighted the importance of the PDI-P embarking on a regeneration program.
He said the party would remain unattractive for Indonesian youth if it maintained its dependence on the Sukarno line, adding that the PDI-P must give cadres outside the family a chance to lead.
Party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of founding President Sukarno, has held her post since 1998, when the PDI-P was formed as a breakaway faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) following the fall of Suharto.