Land Discourses, Patronage, And The 2018 Village Election In Baleharjo, Yogyakarta

Fikri Disyacitta,Darnik Wulandari,Anastasia Imelda Cahyaningrum

doi:10.22146/pcd.52707

Abstract

This article explores how village chief candidates can utilise a suburban community's understanding of public land use to mobilise political support, taking as its example the village chief election in Baleharjo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This article argues that, where village residents still rely on land for their welfare, candidates can politicise land grievances to gather popular support. In Baleharjo, the incumbent received the backing of merchants and investors from predominantly non-agrarian pedukuhan (hamlets) who felt that they had benefitted from the use of village-controlled land for tourism purposes. At the same time, the challenger recognised the hardships of farmers who had been deleteriously affected by such use of village-controlled land, and thus mobilised them on voting day. Applying a qualitative approach, data for this article were collected through interviews and participatory observation over the course of October 2018.

Highlights

This article explores the repurposing of village-controlled land within the context of voter mobilisation, taking as its example the 2018 village election in Baleharjo, a sub-urban village in Gunung
This election was contested by two candidates, both of whom were wealthy entrepreneurs, and both of whom campaigned on a platform of utilising villagecontrolled land to promote prosperity and improve public welfare
By studying the politicisation of village-controlled land as a club good in village elections, this article shows the importance of land in village politics, as a club good for vote buying (Aspinall & Sukmajati, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

This article explores the repurposing of village-controlled land within the context of voter mobilisation, taking as its example the 2018 village election in Baleharjo, a sub-urban village in Gunung. During the 2018 Baleharjo election, this polarisation was exploited by both the incumbent and the challenger to mobilise political support Given this background, this article seeks to understand how candidates politicised the management of village-controlled land for their own electoral purposes. Where Kennedy (2009) argued that suburban village elites access communal village-controlled land to recoup their financial investments in elections, in this case the incumbent utilised his experiences with two parcels of villagecontrolled land to access voter support, with a particular focus on the land upon which the Baleharjo Bus Terminal had stood. A village administrator familiar with local governance and land issues confirmed that Sumaryo had politically supported the incumbent during the election He confirmed that this local investor, who had family ties with the head of dukuh of Mulyosari, had supported the incumbent to guarantee his continued right to manage the market—or even to access future village projects. All I had to do was sit by his side.” (Setiawan, interview, 30 October 2018)

Original

Findings

Conclusion