Reformasi sweep: Indonesia’s elections prove ‘people power’ has legs
Reformers with proven track records upend the incumbent status quo in three major provinces, all good signs that the country’s president could ride his reformist credentials into another term in office
On Wednesday, voters in three of the country’s biggest provinces elected reformers with proven track records over powerful incumbents. Ridwan Kamil, the architect-turned-mayor of Indonesia’s third city of Bandung, who spent big on urban renewal and services edged past the incumbent vice-governor. In East Java, a former star reformer of President Joko Widodo’s Cabinet bested another sitting vice-governor. Voters in South Sulawesi emphatically backed a district head who lifted incomes and at one point wiped out maternal mortality, while in the province’s capital of Makassar, they chose a blank box rather than plum for the nephew of Vice-President Jusuf Kalla.
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The sweep for reformist candidates bodes well for the re-election chances for the reformist Widodo, who’s own background was reflected in some of this week’s winners.
Philips Vermonte, executive director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, says this week’s election infuses talent into the race to replace Widodo should he win as expected next year.
“Jokowi is still the strongest candidate next year,” Vermonte said, using the universal nickname for the Indonesian president.
“There is a new generation of leaders on their way up.”
