Actually, I have been wanting to write this quite long, and now that things are finally over I will try to write this as objective as I can. Now the Pilkada DKI Jakarta is (almost) over and the quick result is out we can predict the result of this gubernatorial election.
The main questions of this writing is “Why did the incumbent governor doesn’t gain votes as many as public satisfaction (around 41% vs around 70%)?” There are many claims that there are people who use SARA (race, religion) issue, but how does this issue win over people?
Many people said that The incumbent’s speech in Kepulauan Seribu was his biggest blunder, a blasphemy that offended the people of majority religion, even though some-quite many tho- people doesn’t think that was a blasphemy and so on and so on. If this not happen, would The incumbent prevail in the gubernatorial election? Wouldn’t there be a unique-number-demonstration(s) and verse-safari? Well, who knows?
If you are reading Attack on Titan, humanity somehow unite behind the same wall defend themselves against Titans. Everyone has different goals; some wants to live in prosper, some seeks revenge, some just want to go beyond the wall and see the sea- all those people fight together to kill titans -Later they will find out that titans, in fact were human too, but this is not relevant. What I am trying to say is, to unite people, we are not really need a same goal, we just we need a common enemy. And in this case, the incumbent took up this role and unite people with different motives to team up to defeat him. Aren’t you curious what are the peoples’ motives?
Well, I believe even if the incumbent didn’t make the ‘blunder’ there still would be a movement tho, it might not be this big, but there sure would be. Since on the couple last day before election people talk more about the translation of the verses that forbid people to choose the unbeliever as leader than the blasphemy case. The case only added more woods into the little fire while some people just keep adding oil to it. And even if somehow the blasphemy case didn’t happen or the incumbent was proven innocent, the issue of forbiddance of choosing unbeliever as leader would be heated up, or there would be another issue that act as small firewood to make the fire bigger.
In the sake of gaining power, politicians will use anything, everything it has and necessary to empower them even more, it also applies in using religious issues to sway people’s mind and heart to profits them. Is it wrong? Nope. And I am quite sure that they think that what they do this past year was the right thing to do and God wills it to happen. Is it irrational to vote based on religious reason? not at all. When making decision based on multiple criteria, it is a logic thing that we value/weight a criterion more than the others, and in this case, many people weighted religious matter more than other criteria -actually I am quite surprise that there still many religious people in Jakarta, lol. Some -many- people would say these people’s logic is not right, but a logic is based on a value people live on, and although there is no basis of me saying this, I truly believe that “everyone has a living good values in their life”. So for them to live on by their own logic is their right, and we should appreciate them and ensure that their rights are rightly fulfilled.
On the other hand, the competitors’ profile as polite and well-mannered figures and the program the they offered also play a good role in their winning, but seeing the people’s satisfaction, it just doesn’t add up. But it’s human logic we’re talking about, so let’s just add it up with some big M factor.
To sum things up, the main reason the incumbent didn’t gain vote as much as people’s satisfaction was of course because of religious issues. It was no wrong move, it was a political strategy, a well-executed one I must say. This event actually gives us a little insight of our people’s logic, or I must say majority of our people’s logic. This was a good example that everyone has a right to participate in political events, to elect and be elected, but not everyone can win.
In the end, for a politician to gain a vote is to utilize the voters’ logic.
p.s. : I didn’t vote because I am not Jakarta people tho. However, I just feel the need to writhe this to make myself deserves the day off. If I had the chance to vote, who I will give my vote for?