The other pair is Alex Nordin and Nono Sampono who receive support from coalition of Golkar, Development Unity Party (PPP) and Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and 23 other parties with no seats in the Jakarta’s DPRD. Besides financial strength and his ability in attracting other party coalition, Alex Noerdin chooses Nono Sampono because he hope that this former Head of Indonesian’s National Search and Rescue Organization and Marine Lieutenant General will be able to support his leadership because Nono is considered well-informed regarding issues surrounding Jakarta and rumour has it that Artha Graha Group supports Nono Sampono financially.
Alex Noerdin and Joko Widodo in particular, their term as regional head in their region is not over yet. This is a crucial matter and could be put against them in the present nomination process. However, this issue will not grow into something big even when their team could not manage this issue well.
Further, it is interesting to observe two pairs of candidate from independent path who initially encountered some problems in the verification process of ID card support as stipulated by the Regional General Election Committee (KPUD). They are registered as Governor and Vice Governor candidates but they must pursue more support to fulfill the minimum support requirement as stipulated by the KPUD until April 9th 2012.
The pair, Hendardji-Ahmad Riza, is supported by officials and members of HIMPI and KNPI while Faisal Basri-Biem Benjamin are supported by a community organization, i.e. Pergerakan Indonesia (Indonesia Movement) and a group of business network led by Biem Benjamin. The pair, Hendardji-Ahmad Riza, surprised everyone by their ID card support in which only 14.000 of them disqualified. On the other hand, the pair has strong financial support. However, many are skeptical that this pair will go further even though they had successfully passed as governor and vice governor candidate in the present election.
The pair, Faisal Basri-Biem Benjamin is particularly interesting because their comprehensive understanding on issues surrounding Jakarta and flowing support from social media, prominent figures and activists as well as figures who have good credibility such as Teten masduki, Wimar Witoelar, Gunawan Muhammad, Sukardi Rinakit, Bondan Gunawan and the like.
Another interesting point to be noted is the political ideas promoted by Faisal Basri starting from philosophy underlies his nomination process (independent path) and how he visited residential areas to discuss his mission, vision and ideas of how to manage a city and try to educate people on politics especially about the danger of money politics and the practice of “empty” transaction as usually practiced by political parties.
Faisal Basri-Biem Benjamin unanimously refuses the practice of money politics and exchanging nine necessities for daily living (popularly known as sembako) with support in term of ID card support. They withdraw financial support from the societies (Crowd Funding) with good accountability because they are willing to be publicly audited in term of source of funding.
This policy really affects public perception and middle class which in turn give their massive support to this pair. Possibly, such phenomenon happened as a result of declining public trust, middle class in particular, toward the political parties. Supported by mass media which broadcast Faisal Basri-Biem Benjamin’s ideas concerning city management, this pair has strengthened their position as strong candidates and also influence other’s politic constellation and politic strategy.
However, this pair was plague with problems related to verification of support, ID card pooling and rumor about falsification of support which must be addressed. Faisal Basri-Biem Benjamin in particular greatly depends on credibility as candidate from individual path. Faisal Basri often emphasizes that his choosing individual path is a social movement to reverse transactional practice common in political party during the general election.
With regard to two rounds regional general election, theoretically, it will be difficult for pairs of candidate to win the battle in 1 round. Moreover, in the first round, the candidates will regard Fauzi Bowo as common enemy because he has a good grip on bureaucracy machine in Jakarta. In Jakarta Governor Election in particular, first round winner must obtain 50%+1 vote where such condition is deemed almost impossible in view of the above constellation.
However, the upcoming regional general election in Jakarta appears to be interesting because, like it or not, Fauzi Bowo and Faisal Basri are becoming poles for changes of support constellation as well as political strategy of those who involve in the upcoming regional general election. With such condition, political parties finally encouraged to promote their best cadre as candidate of Jakarta leader with their unique track record, popularity and capability. We are hopeful that negative political transaction will be minimized and emphasizing more in integrity, track record and capability of the candidates. This in turn will send political twit within society.
