Jonathan Chen – Various minority groups in Indonesia face an inconvenient truth: whoever wins the election, they will end up losing, as candidates ignore minority interests in favour of securing the majority votes.
Reaching out to minority groups in the world's largest Muslim population has been a particularly divisive and politically precarious affair. If politicians embrace their causes, they will risk alienating the majority.
This explains why incumbent presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo chose a Muslim conservative figure, Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate.
Jokowi, who won the previous presidential election for his support for pluralism, has decided to switch his strategy by leaning towards the Muslim conservatives.
It seems that he wants to avoid the defeat experienced by Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election due to oppositions from conservative groups. Ahok, who is Chinese-Indonesian and Christian, was Jokowi's deputy when the latter became Jakarta's governor. He was recently released from prison for blasphemy charges.
Just when there seemed to be no place for minority groups in Indonesia's political spheres, a new political party called Indonesian Solidarity Party, or PSI, is bringing new hope to marginalised people by raising minority issues in its campaign.
Enter the PSI
Established in November 2014, PSI is part of a coalition of nine parties that endorse Jokowi's reelection.
PSI is known as the party that targets millenials. A majority of PSI cadres are young and the party limits its membership for people under 45.
Founded by former presenter Grace Natalie, PSI is also known as a new party that specifically targets the minority votes.
Being a member of a minority group herself, Grace is very sympathetic to the issues of minorities, in particular women and non-Muslims because she believes these groups are under-represented in society and politics. About 45% of their cadres are also women.
Amid growing religious conservatism, Grace likes to address sensitive issues in her speeches.
On several occasions, she has brought up topics such as anti-religious laws and anti-polygamy legislation. For her remarks, she has been reported to the police.
At the grass-roots level, PSI political candidates also fight for the same cause. One of them is the PSI legislative candidate for the Sidoarjo regency in East Java, Almaedawati Erina. I found her during my field study on analysing political trends prior to the 2019 election in March 2019.
A Christian Javanese woman from a multi-religious family, Almaedawati has defended minority rights. She has appealed to minorities in her district by showing that neither PSI nor she is anti-Islam. She has chosen to situate her campaign headquarters next to a prominent village mosque. She promised the mosque's preservation and renovation if she were to be elected. Her volunteers are also diverse in their faiths and ethnicity.
PSI have fielded candidates in all provinces although not in all districts.
Another example is the PSI presence in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. Its members are made up of Madurese ethnic from Madura Island in East Java. The Madurese is a minority in West Kalimantan of whom many were transmigrants.
Analysing PSI's focus on minorities
Some observers have argued PSI's focus on minorities has been a liability rather than an asset. The latest survey indicated the party's electability is still low as they focus on the issues on few voters. PSI is deemed less popular as it doesn't focus on bread-and-butter issues that have become the strategy of the majority of political parties to secure votes from low-income people.
In some cases, PSI's strategy also backfires. In Pontianak, other minority ethnicities such as the Chinese have reservations approaching the party due to the dominance of the Madurese party members. In this sense, its focus and campaign especially in the outer islands has not been consistent.
Activists have also condemned PSI for being inconsistent on LGBT issues. In Depok, rather than siding with LGBT minority groups, a party member is seen to be condemning them instead.
Nonetheless, focusing on minorities and tackling underlying issues of intolerance in Indonesia when all others had abstained, is a novel approach long in coming.
Lone fighter
But it seems PSI is fighting alone. PSI's focus on minority issues used to be shared by other traditionally nationalist, centre-left parties like the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Under Jokowi's coalition parties, constituents of PDI-P and PSI overlap. But PSI champions the cause of minorities and intolerance more vociferously. Meanwhile, PDI-P has adopted new strategies that cater more to the majority.
To generate more votes, nationalist parties have decided to ignore religious and ethnic minorities' appeal against acts of intolerance.
In Surabaya, East Java, political parties are reluctant to reach out to socially-marginalised transgender people, locally known as waria, for fear of the political repercussions.
In Mojokerto regency, also in East Java, various political party candidates were afraid of taking a stand after a group of local Muslims forcefully dug up the body of a Christian interred in a public cemetery even though permission was granted previously. They fear offending their Muslim-majority constituency.
If the preferences of the majority of political parties has indeed alienated the minority vote, PSI's dogged publicity of minority rights and issues certainly gives Indonesian society a pause for thought.
Whether or not PSI wins in the coming legislative election and proves detractors wrong on its strategies, providing minority voices a platform free of fear and intimidation is long overdue.
[Jonathan Chen is an associate research fellow, Nanyang Technological University.]
Source: http://theconversation.com/one-partys-lonely-battle-for-minority-voices-in-indonesia-115165