Safrin La batu, Jakarta – Using sectarian issues to attack other candidates during the first debate on Friday will not gain a candidate votes, an expert in political communication has warned.
"Bringing up a sectarian issue on a big stage with a big audience watching will surely not work," Gun Gun Heryanto, executive director of the Political Literacy Institute, told The Jakarta Post on Monday. "It will backfire against the candidate who tries to exploit sectarianism," Gun Gun added.
Gun Gun said the number of rational voters in Jakarta was high and most of them would watch the debate to learn about the candidates and their vision for the city.
Sectarian tensions in Jakarta have increased recently following accusations that Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama committed blasphemy.
Many civil society organizations in the city expect that the political discourse will soon shift from sectarianism to more important issues such as unemployment and the environment.
Gun Gun said Ahok's challengers, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Anies Baswedan, would need to show voters that they had better ideas to solve the city's problems than the ideas offered by Ahok. (jun)