April 8, 2019
Incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo and running mate Ma’ruf Amin join the carnival parade in Tangerang Banten.
Indonesia’s incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo called for unity among voters as he and running mate Ma’ruf Amin rallied thousands of supporters in a multicultural carnival parade in Tangerang, Banten province on Sunday (April 7).
At the start of the afternoon rally, Mr Joko and Mr Ma’ruf, who is a cleric, climbed on board a horse-drawn carriage and led the parade as a sea of supporters cheered from the side of the road. Mr Joko tossed campaign shirts right and left.
Lending a carnival air were performers of traditional Javanese Reog Ponorogo dance, Chinese Lion dance and Indonesian traditional martial art Pencak Silat.
Mr Joko’s rally was in stark contrast to that held by his rival, Prabowo Subianto, earlier in the day. While Jokowi celebrated diversity with cultural performances and music ranging from pop to the traditional, Mr Prabowo’s fans, many of them conservative clerics, chanted “Allahu Akbar (God is great)”.
Mr Joko is putting extra effort in campaigning in Banten, a stronghold of former army general Prabowo. Banten was part of West Java province before it was split in 2000 into a separate province. As with the rest of West Java, religion plays a very important role in Banten society and politicians can easily play the religious card, according to observers.
The April 17 polls will be a rematch between Mr Joko and Prabowo, who lost in 2014 by a margin of six per cent nationwide.
In Banten, however, which is home to 8.1 million of the total 192.8 million voters in Indonesia’s 34 provinces, Mr Prabowo won about 57 per cent of the votes to Mr Joko’s 43 per cent.
In his address to the crowd in Tangerang, Mr Joko emphasised the need for unity among voters of different political views and backgrounds, saying democracy should bring about joy, as every eligible citizen had the right to choose a leader.
Urging voters to look at each candidate’s experience and track record, Mr Joko promised if he were reelected to expand programmes to help the poor and less well-off deal with economic problems, and gain better access to education.
He said graduates of high schools and vocational schools from lower income families who had good marks would gain government scholarships to enrol in university. Employees who are laid off would be able to upgrade their skills through government-sponsored training programmes.
Housewives from lower income households would also get special cards to buy rice, sugar and cooking oil at heavily subsidised prices.
One supporter at the rally, Mr Guy Zen, an automotive spare part seller, brought a broom to symbolise Mr Joko’s strong commitment to fight corruption.
He also admires Mr Joko’s commitment in promoting pluralism. “The two candidates have said they are pro pluralism, but Jokowi has proven it,” he told The Straits Times.