Larger than life: will billboards help decide Indonesia’s next president?
- Puan Maharani and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, both scions of political dynasties, are among the potential candidates in the 2024 election
- Their visages have been plastered across the country, but they face stiff competition from regional leaders who earned their stripes battling Covid-19
When Indonesia was ravaged by a second wave of Covid-19 earlier this year, you would have expected the bulk of scrutiny to be on the Delta variant and its rapid spread across the country. However, public attention was divided between the collapsing health system and the proliferation of billboards and banners across the country that highlighted political elites.
One of those on public display is Puan Maharani, the current speaker of parliament and heir apparent to the Sukarno political clan. The 48-year-old is the daughter of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who is generally seen as President Joko Widodo’s political matriarch.
Puan’s ubiquitous billboards, erected by the PDI-P, the family’s political vehicle, boast slogans such as “Indonesia is great!” or “The flapping wings of diversity”. She is part of a group of scions of Indonesian political dynasties who are likely to vie for victory in the 2024 presidential election, which is set to be a wide open race as Widodo is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
However, their paths to the top job will not be smooth, analysts say, as they may go up against regional leaders who have proven themselves during the pandemic when they were given more responsibility and autonomy to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“Within the PDI-P there is a desire from Megawati to [nominate] Puan in the presidential election in 2024, that’s why Puan was promoted heavily through billboards,” said Siti Zuhro, senior political researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).