Jakarta. With Governor Joko Widodo the frontrunner in the upcoming presidential election, politicians from opposing parties have started to get jittery and are launching attacks against his performance as governor.
National Mandate Party (PAN) chief of advisers A.M. Fatwa, who initially supported Joko in the race for Jakarta’s governorship, said that all the promises that Joko made during his campaigns were simply image-building.
“There were about 19 promises, but we can now see that most of them were just image-building. Jokowi inaugurated many big projects and then said please continue. This is quite strange,” he said.
Didik J. Rachbini, also from the PAN and a deputy gubernatorial candidate when Joko won in the 2012 Jakarta race, said that the media, freedom and democracy helped create the spin.
“With the media structure, including freedom and democracy, a figure can be presented in a positive way that appeals to voters,” he said.
He said Indonesia’s middle class are quite critical of image-building politicians but they were outnumbered by people with a low education background who mostly support figures based on popularity and not capacity.
Didik questioned Joko’s competence, saying that he has failed to improve Jakarta.
“The Jakarta administration under Jokowi has been a failure,” said Didik, who is also the founder of United Data Center (PDB), referring to Joko’s popular name.
Didik said that perception of Joko after he was elected as governor in 2012 was high. “People were excited by what they felt he offered and were prepared to back him,” he said.
Didik said that based on the surveys his office conducted, there are three major problems that Jakarta residents wished Joko to solve; traffic congestion, floods and economic problems or unemployment.
The survey also found that people considered Joko had only been successful in overcoming problems in a handful of sectors such as public service, hawkers and creating parks. “This means, despite Jokowi’s popularity, he’s considered not good in handling traffic jams and floods,” he said.
With those failures, Didik questioned Joko’s leadership competence if he wins the presidential election. “A person’s capability and capacity is two different things. He cannot even handle the Ciliwung, now he wants to handle 17,000 islands in Indonesia,” said Didik.
Fatwa also said that if Joko is elected as president, Joko’s party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), should still form a coalition with other political parties.
“PDI-P and Jokowi should not monopolize everything, including the vice presidency. It should not take both the presidential and vice presidential positions for itself, it should share power even though the party is big and it has a popular figure.
“Indonesia should be supported by all elements in the country. Minority groups should not be left out in developing the country,” he said.
He said PDI-P should seek a vice presidential candidate with experience in the bureaucracy or in the government. “PDI-P and Joko have to consider figures like Hatta Rajasa [PAN chairman], Jusuf Kalla [former Golkar chairman] and Mahfud M.D. [former Constitutional Court chief justice],” he said.
Despite criticizing Joko, Didik said his party was open to forming a coalition with the PDI-P.
Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) founder and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, in an apparent attack against Joko, had previously cautioned voters not to choose a “puppet presidential candidate.”
Polls have consistently shown if Joko wasn’t running, Prabowo would the clear favorite to win the election.
A team named the New Jakarta Advocacy Team, which supported Joko and his deputy, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, in their gubernatorial campaign in 2012, on Sunday said they would file a lawsuit against Joko for accepting the presidential nomination.
The group demanded that Joko remain in his post until the end of his term in 2017.
New Jakarta Advocacy Team coordinator Habiburokhman said the team had supported Joko in becoming the governor, and it expected him to repay that support by seeing out his terms and promises.
Habiburokhman, who is also the head of Gerindra’s advocacy unit, said Joko was legally bound to his promises because they were the basis for his winning in 2012.
During his party’s campaign on Sunday, Joko played down the threat. “It was the same, back in Solo [where he was previously mayor]. I experienced the same thing. I’m used to being insulted and attacked, I’m used to it,” he said.
“I don’t want to comment on things that would complicate the situation. Let’s practice good manners in politics,” Joko said.
“If you want to offer your support, then do. But if not, I think that’s fine, too.”
Firman Noor, a political analyst from the Indonesia Institute of Sciences, said that the public’s disappointments towards Joko’s decision to accept the presidential nomination and criticisms against him could serve as ammunitions for his rivals.
“It could be easily used to expose Joko’s shortfalls, because there are also allegations that he doesn’t have sufficient managerial skills,” he said.
Ari Dwipayana, a political analyst from Gadjah Mada University, said that the attacks against Joko were part of his competitors’ strategies to hurt his electability as a presidential candidate.
“The attacks are a display of panic on the competitors’ side,” Ari was quoted as saying by Tempo.co on Monday.
The verbal attacks are mainly aimed at Joko’s integrity who during his gubernatorial campaign promised to serve as governor for five years and to help overcome Jakarta’s problems.
Another strategy to hurt Joko’s credibility is through the lawsuit filed by the New Jakarta Advocacy Team, he said.
Dono Prasetyo, chairman of Jokowi’s National Secretariat said the lawsuit was a blatant attempt from rivals to create a bad impression of the governor.
“They are afraid to compete with Jokowi,” Dono told Tempo.co.
Habiburokhman denied that the lawsuit was a smear campaign, but insisted it was a form of support for Joko to remain as Jakarta’s governor because he has been working well.
“Pak Jokowi should not be trapped by the political interests of one certain group and should not let himself be taken advantage of. Deliver your promises as the Jakarta governor to the people,” Habiburokhman said.
Joko’s popularity in part comes from a ‘man of the people’ image and a willingness to out and visit poor communities to hear what they have to say about the issues that effect them the most.
Source/Fuente: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/backlash-begins-rivals-remind-joko-p...
