Jakarta, Indonesia – In Indonesia, about 10,000 people, including the country's ethnic Chinese minority, will be vying to be one of 580 members of parliament in Wednesday's general election.
According to the Indonesian General Elections Commission (KPU), there are 9,917 candidates representing 18 political parties from 38 provinces. Candidates include Chinese Indonesians, who according to the 2010 census accounted for about 2.8 million of Indonesia's population of 237 million at the time. Ethnicity was not listed in the most recent census conducted in 2020.
For Chinese Indonesians, democracy has given them political rights that were once limited.
For more than 30 years under the rule of President Suharto, who resigned following mass protests in 1998, Chinese Indonesians were not allowed to publicly celebrate the Lunar New Year, an attempt to make them more “Indonesian.” An assimilation policy was introduced in , effectively turning them into second Indonesians. Class citizens. After being restricted from government positions, many turned to business or the private sector to earn a living.
“Politics is not for everyone,” says Tawfik Thanasardi, senior lecturer in Indonesian and Asian studies at the University of Tasmania. “This is especially true for Chinese people who endured decades of discriminatory policies under the Suharto regime.”
But Tawfik noted that equal opportunities for Chinese people to run for public office and vote for their preferred candidates “has increased interest post-Suharto due to political reforms and policies aimed at eradicating discriminatory practices.” said.
“The election or appointment of several Chinese nationals to national and local politics triggered this increased interest. The visibility of their first 'successes' was important to the Chinese community,” he said. told Al Jazeera.
Among the prominent Chinese who have entered politics is former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, known as Ahok. He was then imprisoned on blasphemy charges for comments he made on the campaign trail, and has kept a low profile since his release.
“My expressiveness has stabilized and certainly hasn't gotten worse,” Tawfik said.
But Tawfik said that for many Chinese Indonesian voters, “parties with a nationalist platform are more attractive than parties that uphold sectarian values…especially at the national level.”
Indonesia has a population of more than 270 million people and nearly 205 million voters will take part in the 2024 polls. The general election is scheduled to be held just four days after Lunar New Year. February 14th is also Ash Wednesday, a holy day for Catholic Indonesians.
Despite the representative system, the current proportional representation system may disadvantage some candidates who must campaign directly to win seats.
R. Siti Zulo, a research professor of political science at Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), said the open list would “help” some candidates, compared to the previous system, where votes were sent to parties rather than political parties. “Competition has become very difficult,” he said. individual candidates.
“It’s more dependent on parliamentary candidates.” [to do the work] It's either their efforts or their funds in implementing the tactical strategy, not the party,” she told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera spoke to three Chinese Indonesians running for parliament.
Huidi Rachman, PKB
Huidi Rachman is a candidate for the Muslim-based People's Awakening Party (PKB), which supports current chairmen Anies Baswedan and Muhaymin Iskandar as presidential and vice-presidential candidates.
One of the founders of the PKB was Indonesia's late President Abdulrahman Wahid, commonly known as Gus Dur, who lifted the ban on public Lunar New Year celebrations during his tenure in 2000.
Huidi, 61, from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, moved to Jakarta for university in 1983 and has lived there ever since.
He campaigned in some of the vast capital's poorest neighborhoods, meeting with residents and posting videos on TikTok and Instagram.
Huidi, who runs a timber company in Jakarta, called on Chinese Indonesians to vote and participate in Indonesia's “celebration of democracy.”
“We Chinese people don't have to be allergic to politics because we live in Indonesia,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Please stop asking us to be recognized as Indonesians. [democratic] process. ”
If elected, Huidi hopes to pursue programs related to justice and equality, with a focus on more affordable education and health care.
Mary Stejo, Partai Blue
Meri Stejo joined the Partai Buruh (Labor Party), whose founders include various national trade union federations in Indonesia.
The party is headed by labor activist Saeed Iqbal and does not officially support a presidential candidate.
Mary, who owns a housing construction company, said she felt Partai Blue was the right platform to promote improved social welfare and law enforcement for Indonesia's working class, including blue-collar and white-collar workers.
Born in Medan, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, the 54-year-old moved to Jakarta more than 30 years ago to attend university and is hoping to win a seat in the capital's parliament.
As part of her campaign strategy, Mary hands out her business card to everyone she meets and introduces herself. She also asked for support from her family, friends and business contacts.
“I hope that people like me, ordinary Chinese minority women with no political experience or background, have the opportunity and possibility to run,” she told Al Jazeera.
Lady Nusantara, Pelindo
Perindo Party candidate Lady Nusantara is running in Indonesia's Central Java province.
Mr. Perindo supports the presidential pair of Gunjal Pranowo and Dr. Mahfud. He supported outgoing President Joko Widodo when he won a second term in 2019.
The 55-year-old, who runs a factory that makes metal racks for cabling, wants to attract more foreign investment to Indonesia and encourage manufacturers to use domestically produced products rather than imported parts that reach Indonesia through special economic zones. We want to develop a tax system. .
Reddy, who hails from the provincial capital Semarang, is targeting not only first-time voters but also the country's ethnic Chinese and business community. He also hopes to change the minds of people considering abstaining from voting.
Reddy also appeared on a video podcast where he talked about entrepreneurship.
He encourages Chinese Indonesians, especially the younger generation, to enter national politics and “solve problems from within.”
“All of us Chinese, especially the youth, must understand Indonesian politics,” Reddy told Al Jazeera.
“Because if we, the Chinese community, do not understand the parliament, we will always be a cash cow for the Indonesian economy,” he said, adding that increasing political participation is countering the deep-rooted belief that Chinese only care about business. I hoped it would help change stereotypes.
