Jakarta's incumbent governor concedes defeat

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speakers: Wimar Witoelar, Indonesian talk show host, political commentator and former presidential spokesman.

 

 

WITOELAR: It's a vote of protest against the political oligarchy basically and bureaucrats with arrogance and no communications with the people. People are just tired of governors who do not respond to the press, who do not explain their actions. They might do their job, but they do not explain where they are. So now the public is exacting its vengeance to going to a candidate whose major strength,  maybe only strength is being open, communicative and perceived as being clean.
 
COCHRANE: It was expected to be quite a close race. Are you surprised by the relatively comfortable margin that he won by?
 
WITOELAR: Well no, because in the first round, he already won by.. he surpassed Fauzi Bowo by 10 per cent, so it is not a surprise. It's just a confirmation that this landslide really sends a message.
 
COCHRANE: He has talked about a vision for a 'new Jakarta'. What does he mean by that?
 
WITOELAR: I wouldn't put too much credence in his statements or promises. Most of them are not very difficult to attain and he lacks the data and as a challenger he has no access to real data. He also lacks the experience to run a major bureaucracy like Jakarta. But he has good intentions presumably and he does have the emotional support of the people. If he just capitalises on that and uses the people as his strength, he could turn the promises around and still be accepted by the people, because the people just want a governor who is one of them.
 
COCHRANE: Now obviously, in its own right, the election campaign for Jakarta is an incredibly important event, but it's also being seen as a proxy contest for the wider political ambitions, especially in terms of the presidential election in a couple of years. Can you run us through who was supporting both candidates in this governor run off?
 
WITOELAR: Two political parties supported them, but the only significant possible contender would be ex-general Prabowo, who stills stands to account for his role in the 1998 violence in the racial riots. So that is an unknown card. Does he really repent or  can he change his ways or not? It is up to him and Jokowi in the next few months, because when the public this is a new Prabowo. If that's the case, he would have a chance, but if still people see him as the man who allegedly was behind May '98 riots, then it's not easy to fool the public about such an important event.
 
COCHRANE: How seriously do you take the sort looking at these elections as I guess a glimpse of how the public might feel about different candidates and different parties at a presidential level?
 
WITOELAR: I take it very seriously, but the dominant serious message would be the public do not have loyalty to political parties, but they respond to character, to personalities. As you can see, the losing party was supported by all the major political parties, notably Golkar and Democrat Party, all the parties, except for these two, which have no people of their own, but the vice-gubernatorial candidate Ahok very skilfully managed a deal or an arrangement with Prabowo and so this campaign was very well funded and supported. PDIP has no money and PDIP are quite clumsy as campaigning, so I would see this as Prabowo's campaign. Now we have yet to see is this going to be Prabowo's administration or will it be a Jokowi administration. I sincerely hope for the latter.
 
COCHRANE: And in that sense, will the successes or failures of Joko Widodo reflect on Prabowo in terms of his campaign to be president?
 
WITOELAR:  Certainly, but don't forget we are only talking about the electoral success. From today on, it's administrative success which matters. Will he meet his promises? Will be surpass his background of experience? Will he be a competent governor? Expectations have been raised by his campaign and a lot of people are expecting something in return, not just for the city, but also for their role and it will be very hard to distribute political patronage in a city which is viciously competitive.
 
COCHRANE: Wimar Wtoelar, one thing that the well the new governor as it seems to be has succeeded in doing is to start a new fashion trend with his trade mark checked shirt. Is it true that this is becoming a bit of a phenomenon around Jakarta?
 
WITOELAR:  In all modesty, but honestly I must say that was my trade mark during my prize winning television shows in '97-'99. You are free to access your files. I was the man with the checked shirt and curly hair. Of course, I say that all in jest. It's fine for anybody to adopt each other's trends, but the important thing is that he gets away from the suffocating habit of wearing an official uniform. I just love that uniform. I'm digging out my old shirts, but I guess I gave them all away.
 

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