Indonesian Voters Research Articles

Commodification of instrumental Islamic piety in Indonesian political contestation 2019

ABSTRACT This study examined the practice of extensive commodification of Islamic piety by political actors during the Indonesian presidential election 2019. By identifying the posting of contestants between 23 September 2018 and 16 April 2019 and analyzing using the multimodality technique, this research found four forms of extensive commodification of Islamic piety. They are extensive commodification of piety-based developmentalism, social-oriented personal piety, Islamism-based nationalism, and welfare-state-based Islamism. This research concludes that Islamic piety became a political instrument. The religion of Islam is not only a system of beliefs and religious practices but also a political commodity, which political actors commodify during political contestation. The commodification of Islamic piety functions to increase the value exchange or marketability of political candidates. Any candidates are political symbols or commodities among Indonesian voters. The production of instrumental piety messages in political communication results from the intricate interplay between Indonesia's demographic structure, voter psychography, and patron-client culture.

Social Media Preference to Reach Young Indonesian Voters

Politics is currently exposed to information technology. The usage as a political communication channel is becoming increasingly broad and diversified. The significance of social media is heightened by the involvement of young people. This study examines the phenomena of using social media to seek out political information. Using a quantitative approach, researchers administered an online questionnaire to determine social media preferences. Twitter became the most popular site for political conversation, according to the findings. Meanwhile, TikTok is a popular social media platform among Indonesia's youth. Politicians and political parties should explore utilizing social media to connect with supporters. Nevertheless, it is vital to modify the type of communication and information that will be supplied in the future.

Vote-selling as unethical behavior: Effects of voter’s inhibitory self-control, decision toward vote-buying money, and candidate’s quality in Indonesia election

This study examines two stages of vote-selling among voters: to accept or refuse money, and then to vote for the vote-buyer or competitor. Using unethical behavior and money-as-temptation as a framework, we predict that the amount of the money will influence the decision to accept, but that the effect will be lower among voters with higher inhibitory self-control (ISC). We also predict that accepting money will influence the vote choice, but that the influence will be lower when the competitor has higher levels of integrity and leadership. Overall, the voters decision on money offered will moderate the relations between amount of money and vote choice. A population-based survey experiment with 1,220 participants of Indonesian voters was conducted to test these predictions. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 12 groups using a 4 (money offered: IDR50,000 vs. 100,000 vs. 150,000 vs. none) × 3 (candidate's personal quality: high leadership competitor vs. high integrity competitor vs. equal) between-group design. They made two hypothetical decisions: to accept or refuse the money, and to vote for the vote buyer or the competitor. The results showed that participants were signicantly tempted by larger amount of money, but the effect was moderated by ISC. However, there were no significant interaction between decision on money offered and candidates’ quality in influencing vote choice. Results from mediation analysis showed that accepting money was significantly mediate the influence of money on vote choice. Theoretical implications for understanding the practice of vote-buying and vote-selling are discussed.

Branding Strategies for Influencing Voter Citizenship Behavior in Indonesia: The Moderating Role of Psychological Contract Violation

The association of political brand relationship management and voters’ citizenship behavior is a relatively new concept in political marketing research. The relationship between voters and political parties is more complicated in modern times, due to both the sophisticated trends of the current political scenario and voters’ high expectations. This study investigates how political brand identification, political brand relationship investment, political brand relationship quality, and psychological contract violation influence voter citizenship behavior. Currently, the literature examining the effects of these factors on voter citizenship behavior, in conjunction with psychological contract violation, is fairly sparse. Using a sample set of 520 Indonesian voters, the study was able to determine that the political brand relationship quality has the strongest impact on voter citizenship behavior, followed by the political brand identification and political brand relationship investment. Further results imply that a psychological contract violation is not directly related to voter citizenship behavior but that it does significantly moderate the relationship between the political brand relationship investment and voter citizenship behavior. This research adds new insights into the field of political marketing and provides strategic branding guidelines for politicians and others planning to implement political branding to build a relationship with voters.

PENGARUH LOCUS OF CONTROL, PERCEIVED RISK, VOTER DECISION INVOLVEMENT dan VOTER SATISFACTION TERHADAP VOTING STABILITY PEMILIH

The study examines the electoral psychology of Indonesian voters during the presidential Election 2004 by applying consumer behavior theory. The focus of the research is to explore the effects of locus of control, perceived risk, voter decision involvement and voter satisfaction on voling stability. The results indicated that tocus of control influences perceived risk, then, perceived risk influences voter decision involvement. Nexl, voter decision involvementinfluences voter satisfaction, which in tun influences voting slability. This means that the propensity to vote for the same candidate in the next election is influenced by voters' psychological characteristics.

The Resurgence of Ideology in Indonesia: Political Islam, Aliran and Political Behaviour

The 2019 Indonesian presidential elections indicate that ideology played an important role in voting behaviour, as aggregate subnational results seem to mirror the mid-1950s, when Indonesian politics was organised around ideological and partisan groups known as aliran. However, the extent to which these macro-level patterns are rooted in real ideological divisions among Indonesian voters is an open question. This article analyses an original survey specifically designed to measure aliran identities, ideological orientations and political preferences of ordinary Indonesians. Findings indicate that aliran identities are still present and associated with party choice but only loosely connected with political ideology. Most notably, however, political Islam is associated with important political attitudes and behaviours. Islamist Indonesians are less likely to support liberal understandings of democracy, more likely to see economic issues as policy priorities and more likely to support economic redistribution and regional autonomy. This suggests that ideology should receive greater attention in the study of Indonesian politics.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND GENERAL ELECTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (MALAYSIA 2018 AND INDONESIA 2019)

On 2018 and 2019, Malaysian and Indonesian voters set off to the polls to elect their new goverment as Pre Minister for Malaysia and President - Vice President for Indonesia. They are also elect members of the national Regions House, a kind of weak Senate, together with members of the powerful House of Representatives. In addition they will elect provincial councillors from every Provinces and also elect local councillors across local authorities. Related to this situation, discussion and prediction about who is the Presidential candidate in Indonesia become a hot and interesting conversation among Indonesian citizen, and many of them expressed it through social media.

Indonesian young voters: Political knowledge and electing women into parliament

While there are numerous studies available on general elections and young voters in Indonesia, far less research has systematically studied the particular connection between young voters and electing female representative. This contribution deals with Indonesian young voters (17–24 years old) by investigating (a) their shared political knowledge on electoral systems and (b) their preferences in electing female legislators. Using data from 234 respondents with various backgrounds, it argues that the vast majority of Indonesian youth are relatively less-informed with regards to the country's political and electoral systems. This paper demonstrates the gender gap exists in both political knowledge and preferences. It also suggests that young electorates offer a massive support to male over female candidates as nearly 75% of respondents are more inclined to elect a male parliamentarian. The study finds that there is no significant difference in terms of voting behaviour between young and non-young Indonesian voters during legislative elections, as both groups are influenced by gender stereotypes about the ability of male and female politicians to represent the constituents.

A Tale of Three Cities: Electoral Accountability in Indonesian Local Politics

ABSTRACTIn Indonesia, local government is endowed with important policy prerogatives and local politics is key to advance social welfare. The literature on Indonesian local politics has convincingly exposed serious limitations in local democratic practices, and it has questioned the ability of local democracy to promote genuine political change. This work, however, predominantly focuses on elite politics and specific forms of accountability based on patronage and clientelism. In this paper, we study democratic accountability in Indonesia from a different perspective. Drawing from the comparative literature on voting behavior, we hypothesize that Indonesian voters evaluate local politicians for their performance, and that they vote to reward or punish them for what they do in office. The analysis of three original surveys conducted in the cities of Medan, Samarinda and Surabaya offers partial support for this argument. While there is a positive relationship between evaluations of local government performance and support for incumbents, the strength of this link varies substantially across individuals and cities. The results shed new light on voter-politician linkages in Indonesia, suggesting that forms of accountability different from clientelism may emerge in this large and diverse country.

Political Islam and Islamic Parties in Indonesia: Critically Assessing the Evidence of Islam´s Political Decline

This article argues that Islam still plays a significant, if not a central role in Indonesian politics. It questions the notion that Indonesian voters have become rational and that religion no longer influences their electoral behaviour. The decline of Islamic parties' electoral clout should be interpreted not as the decline of political Islam but instead the reverse: Islam has penetrated the dominant nationalist, secular and Pancasila based political parties and has made them stronger in their contest against Islamic parties, which are no longer the lone channel for Islamic aspirations. The fact that almost all parties have accommodated religious aspirations and shied away from criticizing controversial religious issues shows the strength of religious influence in Indonesian politics today. The rising number of shariah-based by-laws in many districts in which local legislative assemblies are dominated by nationalist or secular parties, the passage of potentially discriminative bills by the national parliament in which nationalist or secular parties predominant, and the weak political response to the case of violence against Ahmadiyah are prime examples of how religion is still a major force in Indonesian politics.

Coalitions in Multiparty System: Empirical Reflection of the Indonesian Regional Elections

A lot of changing in recent Indonesian political dynamics with eventual fact shows how political recruitment for legislative and executive chairs in national as well as regional levels in direct voting systems have brought the patterns of coalitions among political parties into interesting focus of observation. We evaluate the Regional Elections data held since June 2005 to September 2008 as election matrix. The matrix is then transformed into the ultrametric space yielding the hierarchical trees based on proximity on inter-party coalition. We represent the distance of coalitions among political parties based on the activity in regional elections and contrasting the findings with some nation-wide facts of the respective properties. The observations draws how Indonesian voters are failed to be segregated into any extreme political and ideological streams but the combinations among the existing and widely-recognized ones.

Etzioni in Southeast Asia

Amitai Etzioni's recommendation to U.S. policy makers to abandon democracy promotion in volatile Muslim societies and embrace moderate Muslims who may not support democracy but adhere to basic human rights standards may be applicable to certain Middle Eastern states. It parallels U.S. policy in the cold war, in which the criteria for regime support was anticommunism rather than democracy. However, Catharin Dalpino argues that this paradigm may not apply to Southeast Asia and that Etzioni's policy recommendations may indeed backfire in countries such as Indonesia. In that Muslim-majority country, the democratization process has provided leaders with mechanisms to curb the rise of political Islam. Recent studies show that this approach may be working, as Indonesian voters are moving away from religious identification as a determinant in voting behavior.

Elections and the Normalization of Politics in Indonesia

Between April and September 2004, Indonesian voters went three times to the polls, first to elect members of legislative bodies, then in two rounds to elect directly a president and vice-president. There were two starkly different views on the elections. For most observers, they were a triumphant affirmation of Indonesia's reform effort; for some, however, they offered little substantive choice between candidates, and merely confirmed in power Indonesia's old political establishment. This essay suggests that both views are right. The legislative, and especially the presidential elections of 2004, were simultaneously the crowning achievement of the reformasi movement that overthrew president Suharto in 1998, as well as its ultimate frustration. Elections have been crucial for demobilizing and domesticating the political energies of the reformasi upsurge and in confirming elite dominance. The 2004 polls were an important step in a process of ‘normalization’ of politics, and can be viewed as marking the end of Indonesia's tumultuous political transition. They also demonstrate how closely Indonesia is aligning with the experiences of other post-authoritarian states in South East Asia, especially Thailand and the Philippines. The dominance of media, money and machine politics that characterized Indonesia's 2004 elections is typical of broader patterns of post-democratization reorganization of political power. Indonesia is broadly distinguished from these countries, however, by the continuing influence of resilient socio-cultural identities (aliran) in voting behaviour. Even here, however, there are signs that the institutionalization and normalization of electoral competition are beginning to erode aliran loyalties.

Communication for a new democracy: Indonesia's first online elections

This paper examines Internet practices in Indonesian political life in the period since the fall of Soeharto. In particular, it looks at the ways in which the Internet was used by political parties for campaigning and organizing, and the state, the media and the public to scrutinize Indonesia's first democratic elections since 1955. The 7 June 1999 general elections in Indonesia were not conducted online; voters did not register their ballot directly onto the Internet. It was, however, significantly the first occasion when Indonesian voters were able to witness online, through a publicly accessible official Internet site, the calculation of the poll ­statistics, from 300,000 individual polling stations, through all strata of government from district level to the final centralized national tally. It was, in that sense, an election whose credibility and transparency relied significantly upon individual ­citizens' ability to monitor the electoral process and the entire tabulation of the count. Given the relatively restricted distribution of the technology in Indonesia, the Internet was not a tool for party propaganda, but it was an effective, and particularly significant, means of scrutinizing the fledgling democratic processes of Indonesia's political transition.