When it comes to Indonesia, you would think voters have plenty of reasons to toss their leaders out of office - endemic corruption, venal politicians and high unemployment.
Yet even though 147 million voters get the chance to vote on parliament members in April and later in the year to directly elect their president for the first time, some analysts believe personalities and family pedigree will still count more than issues. Cash handouts will also help.
"The appeal of figures and their charisma will hold the pivotal role because Indonesian society is still plagued by paternalism," Hidayat Nur Wahid, head of the Prosperous Justice Party, a small conservative Muslim party, told Reuters.
"The level of education has not increased significantly and so people hold onto this."
Nearly six years after autocrat Suharto quit, many of Indonesia's 220 million people have yet to integrate into mainstream politics. In rural areas in particular, the result is a democracy where personalities and cash inducements hold sway.
The overseas-educated Hidayat, popular among urban Muslims and young professionals, has often scored well in opinion polls for presidential candidates ahead of the July 5 poll.
But here's the catch. Hidayat only does well in television and mobile phone text messaging polls, which are confined to the growing but still small number of upwardly mobile middle-class in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Despite a detailed party platform, and tapping into the growing desire of many Indonesians to celebrate their Muslim identity, Hidayat remains glum about his chances.
"I think the possibility for voters to change their preference because of platforms is quite slim," he said.
During the last general election in 1999, his party won less than two percent of the vote. They are expected to double that amount in parliamentary elections on April 5.
Political analysts said the lack of mass support for qualified candidates was common in Indonesia.
"In many cases the good candidates don't necessarily have the political machinery to establish links with the masses or drive the crowds," said Arief Budiman, a noted Indonesian academic teaching at the University of Melbourne.
"Or sometimes they just don't have the so-called charismatic quality and so the masses can't relate to them."
Determining what charima means for Indonesian society, a puzzling mosaic of cultures and ethnic groups, may seem like an endless task.
But some analysts say it is the Javanese idea of power and ruler that predominantly determines the modern political landscape in Indonesia. Java, home to 125 million people, has produced all but one of Indonesia's presidents.
"Derived from the Javanese concept of power...charisma lies in the eye of the beholder," noted academic Ben Anderson said in an essay titled 'The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture'.
"It is less a real quality of the leader than a quality attributed to him by his followers, who see him or her as someone extraordinary, sometimes with historic mission, or grace of God."
As such, some staunch supporters among the grassroots often believe their leaders can do no wrong.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a reticent leader, gets some of her backing from the lingering aura of her charismatic father, Sukarno, Indonesia's first president who declared the nation's independence.
While polls show Megawati's party will lose votes this year, some Indonesians will choose her regardless, partly because of her pedigree, analysts said.
Then there is cold, hard cash.
Across impoverished Indonesia, political handouts of money, rice and other essentials are common, especially in villages.
So while many of Indonesia's 24 parties contesting the parliamentary election in April define themselves according to specific ideology or Islam, membership can be dependent on a patronage system that distributes money and power.
"A combination of money and (the stature of) figures is the common choice among party cadres. I think most people would chose this over...say religion and figures," Hidayat said.
Despite the old ways and disillusion among many Indonesians over the state of their country, surveys still predict a huge turnout for the elections, with more than 90 percent of voters saying they will cast ballots.
"We must put this year's elections in a realistic context. They may not bring about significant changes but democracy is a process and this is one of many steps, said Smita Notosusanto, executive director of the Centre for Electoral Reform.
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