Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, second to left, greets his opponent Joko Widodo, center, next to vice presidential candidates Hatta Rajasa, left, and Jusuf Kalla, right, before their presidential debate in Jakarta on June 9, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Supri)
Jakarta. Election fever has gripped the nation after the first TV debate between Governor Joko Widodo and former general Prabowo Subianto, flanked by their respective running mates, Jusuf Kalla and Hatta Rajasa, engrossed viewers on Monday night.
Zainal Arifin Mochtar from the Gadjah Mada University’s Anti-Corruption Study Center (Pukat UGM), and the moderator of Monday’s debate, said Indonesia’s fascination with politics and public debate was a new phenomenon.
“This new debate culture is very much needed to shift the nation from ‘emotional democracy’ to rational and proportional democracy, and it takes a long time,” Zainal told the Jakarta Globe.
Throughout the presidential debate, social media users criticized Zainal for his repeated harsh warnings to the audience, who would not stop clapping or screaming out their support for their preferred candidates — many of whom were influential figures, including lawmakers and prominent politicians.
“They were too noisy and would not stop throwing insults at each other, so I had to stop them because they were disrupting the substance the candidates were trying to convey,” Zainal said.
He added that the National Election Commission (KPU) should go further and hold an interactive debate, in which the candidates are given better opportunities to counter each other’s statements.
“The campaign teams from both camps are still too afraid to try out the open debate format, if they are willing to be more relaxed the debate will be so much more alive,” he said.
“However, we have to anticipate excessive sarcasm and harshness against the candidates. Last night things heated up pretty quickly just with simple questions,” Zainal said, referring to when former vice president Jusuf Kalla asked Prabowo about his policy on human rights abuses.
Prabowo — who previously admitted responsibility for kidnapping democracy activists shortly before Suharto’s downfall — lashed out at Kalla with an emotional response, saying that his opponent did not understand the sacrifice made by soldiers acting under orders.
“Our democracy is still crawling, it will need time to grow up, learn and eventually be ready to fight,” Zainal said.
Missed opportunities
Ari Dwipayana, a political observer from Gadjahmada University in Yogyakarta, told the Jakarta Globe that Prabowo and Hatta missed out on the opportunity to outdo Joko and Kalla.
“Prabowo appeared to lack confidence, he made some emotional statements and was unfocused in catching the essence of the questions and answering them,” Ari said.
Ari said Prabowo and Hatta wasted the opportunity to explain their programs and that their rhetoric was unclear.
“Joko defined democracy as the ability to listen to the people’s voice and to provide them with what they want, while Prabowo and Kalla spoke about the importance of having a ‘productive democracy’ and not a ‘destructive’ one — but what does that even mean?” Ari said.
He said both Joko and Kalla managed to elaborate on their ideas with practical examples, while Prabowo and Hatta were stuck on grand ideas, which they failed to prove to be useful.
Ari said Hatta also missed a chance to speak about legal certainty by not giving any concrete evidence, while Joko and Hatta were able to give a credible answer about clean governance by talking about their previous programs, including electronic procurement and electronic budgeting to ensure transparency and accountability.
Ari said the highlight of the night for Joko and Kalla was when the moderator asked them what the political cost of a big coalition would be.
“Prabowo stumbled because he’s indeed trapped in a fat coalition and rumor has it that the agreement between the parties was based on how many cabinet positions they can get,” Ari said.
He said Joko was able to breeze through the question because he has consistently stated that he preferred a slim coalition to ensure the cabinet is filled based on the ministers’ abilities rather than on political horse-trading.
Ari said the biggest blunder for Prabowo and Hatta was to ask Joko and Kalla about regional autonomy and direct elections.
“The question was way too easy for seasoned bureaucrats such as Joko and Kalla, it worked perfectly in their favor,” he said.
However, Nurul Arifin, a spokesman for Prabowo and Hatta, denied that his team lost the debate.
The Golkar party lawmaker said the Monday debate only served as a warm-up session for the pair.
“Like in a boxing match, last night’s debate was only a warming up session where the candidates measured their opponents’ strength,” Nurul said.
Prabowo himself admitted he was a bit nervous.
“I think for the first debate it was quite good, not bad, a little nervous perhaps,” he said afterwards.
Election euphoria
Singer Renno Krisna Dwipayana said this year’s election has changed his mind about politics.
Renno, who used to ignore all political and election updates, found himself glued to the television during the debate.
“As an avid social media user I have seen so much negative propaganda against both camps and that really upset me, so I was really excited to see how the candidates defend themselves,” he told the Jakarta Globe.
Renno said he thought Joko and Kalla were the winners of the debate.
“I think Prabowo and Hatta dug their own graves by asking Joko and Kalla about direct elections and autonomy. It almost seemed like Prabowo-Hatta were letting Joko-Kalla win easily. Hatta even went on to support his opponents’ ideas instead of countering them,” he said.
Rizky Kertanegara, a lecturer at Paramadina University, said Prabowo and Hatta fell short because they underestimated their opponents.
“At first all the candidates appeared nervous, but as time went by Joko and Kalla became more confident while Prabowo and Hatta fell for Kalla’s provocation,” he said.
There are, however, some who believe Prabowo and Hatta came off best.
Dahlan, an entrepreneur, said Joko proved he would only be good as a governor, not as a president.
“His idea about fiscal politics is so backward, it has become more clear that Prabowo will be the best leader,” he said.
By Dessy Sagita on 11:11 pm Jun 10, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment