Asian Angle | Will Joko Widodo’s campaigning pay off in West Java election, a bellwether of Indonesia’s voters?
There is no doubt that Wednesday’s regional elections will act as an indicator of presidential polls early next year – and whether President Joko Widodo’s efforts to engage the province will bear fruit
On Wednesday, the Indonesian province of West Java – with a population of 48 million – (crammed into an area smaller than the Netherlands, the former colonial power) will be going to the polls.
Its gubernatorial contest is part of a nationwide round of provincial, district and city elections that will involve more than half of the republic’s population of 265 million (that’s 152 million voters).
Back in 2014, when President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was the outsider, he lost the province to his challenger, former special forces, or Kopassus, general and Suharto’s son-in-law, Prabowo Subianto by a staggering 19 per cent margin.
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In the years since his inauguration, Jokowi has devoted time and energy to West Java – visiting it more than any part of the republic, including his home province of Central Java.
West Java is the home of the Sundanese people, who are quite distinct from the majority Javanese. Long a hotbed of Islamic conservatism, with its proud history, has never been particularly fond of the former mayor of Solo.
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And yet despite its relatively small size, it encompasses a wide range of contrasting districts from the inland cities of Garut and Tasikmalaya deep in the interior to the volcano-ringed provincial capital of Bandung with its elegant Dutch modernist architecture.