Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The victory of Ahmad Heryawan and his running mate Dede Macan Yusuf in the recent West Java gubernatorial election and of Syamsul Arifin and his running mate Gatot Pujonugroho in North Sumatra has not only silenced widespread hypothesis, but also slapped the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the country's two major parties, in the face.
The West Java provincial chapter of the General Election Commission (KPUD) announced the so-called Hade pair's victory of 40.5 percent of the votes Tuesday, while the North Sumatra's KPUD is scheduled to confirm the Syamsul-Gatot pair's win Friday.
Almost none predicted the two unseeded pairs would win, because they lacked campaign funds and were backed only by minority parties. The major parties stood behind rich and senior figures, such as Danny Setiawan and Agum Gumelar in the West Java election and Ali Umri and Tri Tamtomo in the North Sumatra election.
Golkar was optimistic about its candidate Danny Setiawan's election victory because Golkar dominates the West Java provincial legislature, while Danny was the incumbent governor and his running mate, Iwan Sulandjana, the former chief of West Java's Siliwangi Military Command.
Agum of PDIP was optimistic because he was supported by a major coalition of parties controlling a total 40 percent of seats in the provincial, regental and municipal legislatures in the province.
Joyful about their own dream of victory, the major coalitions were apparently unaware of the reality – the election was no longer held through the representation system, where voters directly cast the votes of their choice. Major parties were busy designing elite-oriented campaign strategies and common political programs, which did not touch the people's real condition.
The people were also less interested in attending political campaigns conducted by the major parties during the campaign season because candidates failed to offer concrete programs to address the problems the people were facing. Besides being too old and supported by underperforming parties, the candidates nominated by the major coalitions failed to offer effective medicines to cure the people's sickness.
People in West Java looked skeptical about Agum's common programs and bored with incumbent governor Danny, who was deemed unable to deal with the soaring prices of basic commodities. People doubted Agum or Danny could generate more jobs and achieve significant progress in the least-developed northern coastal areas.
The people's apathy in the election was shown by a low voter turnout and according to the final vote count in West Java, more than 10 million of the 27.9 million eligible voters did not exercise their voting right.
Many low-income voters admitted to having received (political) money from certain party campaign teams, but did not vote for the respective candidates.
The major parties and their candidates did not learn much about the characteristics of eligible voters, especially the millions of commuters living in Jakarta's outskirts, such as Bekasi, Depok and Bogor, who do not feel like an integral part of West Java.
With the question as to whether the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) was behind the victory of Ahmad and Syamsul, the answer could be yes and no.
Yes because the PKS, which is close to the youth and the grassroots level, has nominated young candidates as alternative figures. Ahmad and Dede Yusuf were running their candidacy at the age of 41, compared to Danny and Agum who were above 50. According to the survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), which also conducted a quick count in West Java, 50 percent of 27.9 million voters in the province are young people, part of which did not participate in the 2004 general elections.
A "no" answer because Syamsul in North Sumatra was above 50 years of age, but as a businessman he is popular among Malays. The victory of Ahmad and Syamsul were also determined by their running mates. Besides the reality that voters were bored with the incumbent and old faces, Dede as a movie and ads star was also popular among millions of commuters in West Java. Gatot was relatively as popular as R.E. Siahaan's running mate Suherdi among some four million Javanese descents in North Sumatra.
The two gubernatorial elections in West Java and North Sumatra offer a good and valuable lesson for old major parties and their candidates about political recruitment. Parties need to review their ideology, common platforms and programs to match them to the social reality because the people are getting pragmatic and politically literate.
In contending the next gubernatorial elections in East and Central Java, East Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, Bali, Riau and Lampung, major parties will be left behind and suffer losses if they continue to offer the same programs and old faces because they will be competing with young faces and their concrete programs.
The major parties are likely to have the same fate in the next legislative and presidential elections because the people will cast their votes for parties and candidates whom they are close with.
Therefore, parties need to revise their ideology and ideologize their supporters and the public to maintain their loyalty in any elections. It is true that according to the constitution, political parties are the main gate for political recruitment, but they should not forget the people's voting rights. They should realize the two recent gubernatorial elections could be seen as an effective means for the people to punish underperforming parties and public/political officials.
[The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.]