This man cleaned up a ‘City of Pigs’. But for Indonesian voters, he needs to be pious, too
The gubernatorial race in West Java is indicative of a new normal in the Muslim-majority country – for politicians, even stellar track records of reform are no longer enough, as mayor of Bandung Ridwan Kamil is finding out
When Ridwan Kamil took over as mayor of Bandung in September 2013, bureaucrats like Tammi Lasmini, who would be responsible for executing plans to rebuild the city centre and spruce up its parks, admitted to having their doubts.
Just a month earlier Kamil’s predecessor, Dada Rosada, had been arrested on suspicion of bribing judges – charges that ultimately led to a 10-year prison sentence. A Dutch colonial hill top town and capital of Indonesia’s West Java province, Bandung was one of the few tourist attractions near Jakarta. But its charm had crumbled into a mess of rubbish and potholed sidewalks. Things got so bad a blogger in 2014 called Bandung “A City of Pigs”, a jarring wake up call for this overwhelmingly Muslim-majority city.
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“We have had plans for infrastructure or to improve the environment. But we didn’t have the political will. But then he came,” says Lasmini, who heads the city’s spatial planning department, referring to Kamil.
Four years later and Kamil has his eyes on the governorship. He has shot to national attention not only by splashing out on a vast urban facelift but also by sawing through city bureaucracy by putting budgeting online and arming residents with apps that let them lodge complaints or apply for business permits.
“This is like a dream that I’ve had for a long time,” Lasmini says
West Java is just one of 17 provinces going to the polls in June. As voters mull the candidates a track record of reform – even the one of dreams – isn’t enough. Increasingly religious issues matter, too. Kamil has teamed up with a local government official hailing from one of Indonesia’s main Muslim parties to help inoculate him from criticism that the moderate Muslim isn’t pious enough. The race is shaping up as a showcase of the new normal in Indonesian politics where candidates must burnish their religious as well as their reformist credentials.
