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Most likely, the election will further drive the spread of the disease across the country.
On Dec. 9, Indonesians will vote in regional elections amid a wave of coronavirus infections that shows no signs of slowing down. The scale of the regional elections is staggering: more than 105 million people will vote for the leaders of nine provinces, 224 regencies and 37 cities, from Sumatra to the Banda Islands.
The election was originally scheduled for September but was postponed until this week in June due to the emergence of COVID-19 cases, largely under the assumption that the pandemic would now be under control. Rather, the opposite happened. The country has recorded approximately 5,000 daily infections in recent weeks. As of December 7, the total number of infections in the country stood at 581,550 and the number of deaths from COVID-19 at 17,867. Both are the tallest in Southeast Asia. As I discussed earlier, in fact, those figures almost underestimate the spread of the disease across the archipelago, given the unusually low level of testing in Indonesia.
These dangers have prompted widespread calls for a further postponement, added Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s two largest Islamic organizations. “Democracy is expensive,” writes the Jakarta Post in an editorial, “but it takes the lives of citizens, especially in times of crisis. “pandemic?
However, the government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ruled out any further heisting. He argued that an additional robbery would deprive citizens of their hard-won constitutional rights and threaten to create power vacuums in the archipelago. The government has pledged 5. 2 trillion rupees ($370 million) for the implementation of eligibility protocols for the elections. These include measures to restrict the number of voters at each polling station to a maximum of 500, hourly voter attendance, and a predetermined voting schedule.
Jokowi’s management is also likely to be financially motivated. In a recent article, Yohanes Sulaiman of Jendral Achmad Yani University in Bandung noted that spending on voting logistics – as well as the large vote-buying that accompanies Indonesian elections – would serve as a de facto form of economic stimulus in an era of economic stagnation. COVID-19 and related restrictions have pushed Indonesia into its first recession since the Asian currency crisis of 1997-98. The country saw its expansion fall to 3. 49% in the third quarter of the year. , compared to the same period in 2019, after a 5. 32% drop in the second quarter.
Elections ensure mass infections, but they carry a much higher risk. Since holding its national elections on Nov. 8, Myanmar has experienced a surge of COVID-19 that has propelled it to the third position in number of infections in Southeast Asia. , elections in Malaysia’s Sabah state at the end of September are widely credited with triggering a second wave in that country. And none of those regions are as densely populated as parts of Indonesia, including the island of Java.
The pandemic has already had its effect on elections. As Erin Cook notes in her newsletter Dari Mulut ke Mulut, the General Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, or KPU) reported that 800 polling station staff members tested positive for COVID-19 in Central Java, while others refused to be tested. Back in October, the KPU announced that 3 applicants had died after contracting COVID-19.
The pandemic will most likely lead to low voter turnout. In October, local polling firm Indikator Politik Indonesia found that 47% of respondents were unlikely to go to the polls due to public health concerns, compared to 41% who said they were likely to vote. The others were undecided. In July, a survey found that 63% of citizens expressed this opinion after the elections were postponed.
What about the election itself? Perhaps the most engaging subplot is that of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son. Gibran is running for mayor of Solo, Surakarta, in central Java, a position his father used as a springboard into national politics. The president’s son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, is also running for mayor of Medan, a city in Sumatra, the country’s fourth-largest city. Both won the political party primaries, joining Jokowi’s Indonesian Democratic Struggle Party.
The victory would conventionally mark the career of Jokowi, who in 2014 broke new ground by becoming Indonesia’s first president outside the military or the country’s dense network of political dynasties. If Gibran wins the job, which is widely expected (Nasution faces a tougher fight at Medan), it would turn out that even under Indonesia’s “foreign president,” dynastic politics are alive and well.
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On Dec. 9, Indonesians will vote in regional elections amid a wave of coronavirus infections that shows no signs of slowing down. The scale of the regional elections is staggering: more than 105 million people will vote for the leaders of nine provinces, 224 regencies and 37 cities, from Sumatra to the Banda Islands.
The election was originally scheduled for September but was postponed until this week in June due to the emergence of COVID-19 cases, largely under the assumption that the pandemic would now be under control. Rather the opposite happened. The country has recorded around 5,000 infections per day in recent weeks. As of December 7, the total number of infections in the country amounted to 581,550 and the number of deaths from COVID-19 was 17,867. Both are the highest in Southeast Asia. As I mentioned before, those figures almost underestimate the spread of the disease throughout the archipelago, given the unusually low levels of testing in Indonesia.
These dangers have prompted widespread calls for a further postponement, added Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s two largest Islamic organizations. “Democracy is expensive,” writes the Jakarta Post in an editorial, “but it takes the lives of citizens, especially in times of crisis. “pandemic?
However, the government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ruled out any further heisting. He argued that an additional robbery would deprive citizens of their hard-won constitutional rights and threaten to create power vacuums in the archipelago. The government has pledged 5. 2 trillion rupees ($370 million) for the implementation of eligibility protocols for the elections. These include measures to restrict the number of voters at each polling station to a maximum of 500, hourly voter attendance, and a predetermined voting schedule.
Jokowi’s management is also likely to be financially motivated. In a recent article, Yohanes Sulaiman of Jendral Achmad Yani University in Bandung pointed out that spending on voting logistics – as well as the large vote-buying that accompanies Indonesian elections – would serve as a de facto form for economic recovery in an era of stagnant economics. COVID-19 and related restrictions have pushed Indonesia into its first recession since the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis. The country saw its expansion fall to 3. 49% in the third quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2019, after a 5. 32% drop in the second quarter.
Elections don’t guarantee mass infections, but they carry a much higher risk. Since holding its national elections on Nov. 8, Myanmar has noticed a surge of COVID-19 that has pushed it into third place in the number of infections in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, elections held in Malaysia’s Sabah state in late September are widely credited with triggering a second wave there. And none of those regions are as densely populated as parts of Indonesia, especially on the island of Java.
The pandemic has already had its effect on elections. As Erin Cook notes in her newsletter Dari Mulut ke Mulut, the General Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, or KPU) reported that 800 polling station staff members tested positive for COVID-19 in Central Java, while others refused to be tested. Back in October, the KPU announced that three applicants had died after contracting COVID-19.
The pandemic will most likely lead to low voter turnout. In October, local polling firm Indikator Politik Indonesia found that 47% of respondents were unlikely to go to the polls due to public health concerns, compared to 41% who said they were likely to vote. The others were undecided. In July, a poll found that 63% of citizens said so after the elections were postponed.
What about the election itself? Perhaps the most engaging subplot is that of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son. Gibran is running for mayor of Solo, Surakarta, in central Java, a position his father used as a springboard into national politics. The president’s son-in-law, Bobby Nasution, is also running for mayor of Medan, a city in Sumatra, the country’s fourth-largest city. Both won the political party primaries, joining Jokowi’s Indonesian Democratic Struggle Party.
The victory would traditionally mark the career of Jokowi, who in 2014 broke new ground by becoming Indonesia’s first president outside the military or the country’s dense network of political dynasties. If Gibran wins the job, which is widely expected (Nasution faces a tougher fight at Medan), it would turn out that even under Indonesia’s “foreign president,” dynastic politics are alive and well.
On Dec. 9, Indonesians will vote in regional elections amid a wave of coronavirus infections that shows no signs of slowing down. The scale of the regional elections is staggering: more than 105 million people will vote for the leaders of nine provinces, 224 regencies and 37 cities, from Sumatra to the Banda Islands.
The election was originally scheduled for September but was postponed until this week in June due to the emergence of COVID-19 cases, largely under the assumption that the pandemic would now be under control. Rather, the opposite happened. The country has recorded approximately 5,000 daily infections in recent weeks. As of December 7, the total number of infections in the country stood at 581,550 and the number of deaths from COVID-19 at 17,867. Both are the tallest in Southeast Asia. As I discussed earlier, in fact, those figures almost underestimate the spread of the disease across the archipelago, given the unusually low level of testing in Indonesia.