SP/Robertus Wardi – With his popularity steadily skyrocketing, political analysts have said that Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo is considered the man to beat in the 2014 presidential election, though only if he chooses to run for office.
Adjie Alfaraby of the Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI) said that Joko, more famously known as Jokowi, would be a tough candidate to defeat if he wound up running for president next year. His popularity, Adjie said, could eliminate other competitors like Golkar Party Chairman Aburizal Bakrie and Great Indonesia Movement party (Gerindra) founder Prabowo Subianto.
"Jakartans are not the only people who like Jokowi – he is popular across the country. He can pair up with anyone, and his partner's popularity will only enhance Joko's appeal," he said.
Adjie said that the only way Joko wouldn't win is if he is not nominated. He said that the issue is whether or not Joko's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), will nominate him as a candidate. PDI-P chairwoman and former Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri is still considering making a run for the top office.
"There are two groups in the PDI-P: the first wants Megawati to be president and the other is encouraging other figures like Joko to run for president. This internal division has resulted in the PDI-P's inability to nominate someone for president," he said.
Speaking generally about the election process, Lusius Karus from the Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), an election watchdog, said that the upcoming 2014 election will highlight new voting trends in the country, as people will focus more on presidential candidates as individuals rather than the goals of political parties.
It seems that voters now tend to focus on a candidate's integrity and not about the supporting parties. Joko and his deputy Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's victory in the Jakarta gubernatorial race proved this, Lusius said.
Additionally, he said that voters like leaders who are able to reform and whose image is not too polished. Voters also tend to gravitate toward younger leaders that have yet to invest themselves in the corrupt governmental system.
"These views easily point to names that represent reformation and novelty in the political sector, such as Joko Widodo and Gita Wirjawan, as both have relatively young political careers," he said.
The likelihood of a reformer being elected, Lusius said, is gaining traction in Indonesia, as the public seems to be drawn to the idea of a change in the country's political order.
"The transformation can only happen if the leader is someone who purely works for the country and not for the agendas of political parties," he said.