CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of The Study

The 2019 Indonesian Presidential Election began on 17 April. It was a rerun of

2014 Presidential Election, which brought and Prabowo Subianto as the candidate (Vedi and Richard, 2019). In 2014, Jokowi ran as a root challenger and brought his previous track record when he was Mayor of Surakarta and governor of

DKI , while Prabowo as the incumbent’s challenger brought his militaristic track record along with his Protectionism idea (Purdey, 2016).

During Jokowi regime, Indonesian government has challenged by severe internal and external issues, such as global economic challenge, religion, and unstable political movement. Vedi R.H, Richard R (2019) argues that Jokowi having a severe issue related to his leadership and government administration. The 2019 Presidential

Election also brought different issues during the contestation. In 2019 election, Jokowi undergoes infrastructure development as a political campaign, which he argued as the path of Indonesian economic leverage in the future. Meanwhile, his rival Prabowo questioned the effectiveness of Jokowi infrastructure development program that could benefit Indonesia's lower economic society. He also marks a severe highlight of how

Jokowi’s development program could potentially increase Indonesian government debt

(Vedi and Richard, 2019).

Nevertheless, Jokowi keeps continuing his development program to build several facilities, including toll road, airport, and port. He believes that the

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infrastructure program is a long-term project, and the benefits would not felt- instantly (Fukuoka and Djani, 2016). Jokowi also argued if there is any critic on him, it must be supportive, especially if it’s related to infrastructure development issues.

Besides the internal issues of Jokowi government administration and development program, religion and ethnicity are also contributing issues in 2019

Presidential Election. The religious conflict arises and having a severe tension between the progressive and conservative of Islam in 2019. Some Muslim organizations argue

Jokowi religious stances when 2017 gubernatorial election began. It is triggered

Islamic group such as Islamic Defender Front (FPI) when his previous vice-governor candidate, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who later became the Governor in charged, uttered a blasphemy argument during his visit in Kepulauan Seribu. While Basuki on trial,

Jokowi gave no response to these issues. FPI thought Jokowi had no response because of his relation with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama as his previous running mate in 2012 gubernatorial election.

Moreover, it is getting worse when Jokowi uttered about Muslim Nusantara ideas as part of progressivism values to counter Middle East conservatism in Indonesia.

Spokesman of MUI or Majelis Ulama Indonesia in Sumatera Barat, Buya Gusrizal, stated that they were rejecting Islam Nusantara ideas, as it brings confusion to the

Islamic concept. They argued, Islam is already perfect without any enhancement needed in terms of its definition. These Muslim Nusantara ideas were followed up by

Indonesia established Muslim group, Nadhlatul Ulama, which later sent its representative as the vice-presidential candidate in 2019 presidential election, Ma’ruf

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Amin. In 2014, Jokowi gathered massive Islamic support from Nadhlatul Ulama.

Meanwhile, Prabowo gathered nationalist voters by using his militaristic charisma and conservative Islamic voters such as Islamic Defender Front (FPI) and Salafi voter, which associated with Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Jokowi and his coalition parties received massive supports from rural Islamic areas, especially East Java as it is the basis of Nadhlatul Ulama voters (Dimitar, Kai, and Paul:2019).

Furthermore, in 2019 presidential election, the similar condition of 2014 election has happened. The participation role of religious organizations such as

Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah, and Islamic Defender Front (FPI) increased in 2019. The fact that Jokowi gained support from Nahdlatul Ulama as one of

Indonesia's largest Islamic organizations made him confident about choosing his path in creating an Islamic discourse. He also confidence in visiting some Conservative

Muslim organizations such as Salafi despite his controversial ideas about Islam

Nusantara, which he uttered as if to separate the Progressivism and Conservatism

Muslims in Indonesia.

Diego (2019) stated that Islamic values affected Indonesia's economic policy and decentralization during the 2019 presidential election. He also stated that the ramification of religious values is massive by disrupting Indonesia's political constellation. The rise of Islamism also found as one of the challenges for Indonesian liberal democracy. It can conclude the significant participation number of Ulama, Kyai,

Ustad, and any other religious leader, including NU has affecting Indonesia's political constellation. In other words, the role of Muslim voters highly determines who will be

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the winner in 2019 presidential election. It significantly increased when the 2017 gubernatorial election was held, especially after Ahok’s cases, which resulted in him being in prison for 2 years.

Jokowi began his rallies in Jakarta Gubernatorial election with his running mate, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, in 2012. He entered Jakarta’s Gubernatorial Election after succeeding as a Mayor of Surakarta (John, 2018). Jokowi argued he found some issues regarding government administration and the inefficiency of bureaucracy handling time in Jakarta. He stated that bureaucracy handling time must be cut off or reduced to the bare minimum to handle as many as people in Jakarta (Hamid, 2014).

He also encapsulated his vision when he was in Surakarta for two periods and brought it to Jakarta as a promise to solve many capital problems, including annual flood and social welfare.

Furthermore, to settle his rampant, Jokowi established himself with the help of

Media by creating populist persona during the campaign (Hamid, Abdul: 2014). He was showcased as a populist person around to people and broke the old bureaucratic tradition, which is old and too formal. Started the campaign by using a grid shirt with flannel material, Jokowi had an impromptu visit to many rural areas in Jakarta, breaking the exclusiveness of old bureaucracy. The fact that Jokowi came up with a populist persona and breaking the traditional elite culture in politics cannot be put away from the power behind him (Jeffrey, 2013).

Ross (2015) argues that Jokowi had massive support from two large oligarchs in Indonesia, Megawati and Prabowo. Jokowi had financial support and funding for his

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campaign during the Jakarta gubernatorial election, retrieved from two large parties;

PDI-P, which leads by Megawati and Gerindra by Prabowo. Populism became the main keywords for Jokowi during his tenure as Governor. He continued his impromptu visit by attending some rural areas, and the famous ones. He becomes the highlight on the media after he gets into the sewerage to check its condition before the raining season.

Furthermore, Jokowi used Jokowi-Ahok Social Media Volunteer (Jasmev) as his invisible forces and supporters to promote his achievement and populist persona in society. Jasmev has a massive contribution to Jokowi-Ahok campaign by neglecting and reporting any news and information which discredited Jokowi and Ahok. They are continuously promoting Jokowi-Ahok achievement to raise public awareness and vote.

As a result, Jokowi-Ahok won the election by beating his competitors Fauzi-Nara with

53,82% and Fauzi-Nara with 46.18%. The result announced Joko Widodo and Basuki

Tjahaja Purnama as Governorernor and Vice in 2012 election

(Hamid, 2014).

After receiving a high acceptance from Jakarta citizen, he continued his rallies to be 2014 presidential candidate. Jokowi continued the campaign with his iconic grid shirt fabricated with flannel material and do impromptu visit within a national scale.

Mainstream media portrayed him as a new political figure who is coming from low- level society and non-elite partisan. He is believed to be the one who broke the old government paradigm and restructured the bureaucracy when he was in Jakarta and

Surakarta. Along with PDI-P and the coalition of great Indonesia (KIH), Jokowi ran as the challenger of Prabowo Subianto with his Red-white Coalition (KMP). As a result,

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in 2014, Prabowo Subianto has failed to beat Jokowi. Jokowi-JK had 53.15% vote, while Prabowo-Hatta only had 46.85% vote. Indonesia Election Commissions (KPU) announced Jokowi-JK as the winner of the 2014 presidential election. Though Jokowi turned as the winner, Parliament chair has dominated by the KMP coalition. The legislative election results put Gerindra, , and PKS as dominating party which coming from KMP bench.

Media and involvement of its owner in politics also make a significant contribution in shaping a national perspective towards the candidate during the election. It is also helped the candidates on showcasing their political campaign and spreading it to the public sphere (Hamid, 2014). For example, Jokowi and his supporters undergo the populist issue as opposed and neglected Prabowo nationalist campaign. They also convey black campaigns to shatter the support for Prabowo and his supporting parties and allies, such as brought back Prabowo’s track record in the

1997 riot (Tapsell, 2015). One of the Media strategies is to decrease or deny opponent credibility during the election. Instead, they will use the negative or black campaign to do so. For example, Surya Paloh, as the leader of Nationalist Demokrat Party (Nasdem) who also owned Metro Group, declared his support for Jokowi during the 2019 campaign. It is marked the affiliation of some Media group owner in Indonesian politics. Indonesia mainstream media (Metro Group) portray Jokowi as the man who is starting to build the future as his policy boosts Indonesia's infrastructure development. They argued it was a method to encounter 2045 Sustainable

Development Goal (SDG) issues. Local media such as Metro TV broadcast Prabowo

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and his allies regarding their negative political track record in 1997 and their proximity to Suharto family members. Meanwhile, another black campaign also spread by TV

One to attacked Joko Widodo by saying he is the son of a communist party member.

The Communist party itself has been ban in Indonesia since 1965.

The International media and institution had given their Perspective and opinion towards the Indonesian government during Jokowi’s regime. They showcased Joko

Widodo stances on their perspective including his decision on making several policies and political affair. One of the International institutions which given their perspective is ISEAS. This thesis will examine the Perspective retrieved from ISEAS-Yushof Ishak

Institute. As foreign independent research institute, ISEAS published their findings as contribution is South-East Asia region research. Though ran as an independent research institute, ISEAS was established by Singapore government and currently located in

Singapore (ISEAS.edu.sg). The status of its research center itself was affiliate with government of Singapore. Their findings could possibly enact Singapore government stances on several policies making and handlings. Including how government of

Singapore related with Indonesia government on shaping and making the purposive academic result to influence the political constellation in Indonesia.

Established in 1968, ISEAS-Yushof Ishak Institute or ISEAS is a research organization located in Singapore. They have published articles, perspectives, and journals as their research result. The scope of their research was focused on regional issues and specifically undergo Southeast Asian countries issues such as Thailand,

Philippine, and Indonesia. During the Indonesian 2019 presidential election, ISEAS

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published Perspective to showcasing Joko Widodo government administration. ISEAS

Perspective examines Jokowi government administration achievement in the last 5 year. They also summarize Jokowi infrastructure development and his leadership across the country. Perspective was published, yet, ISEAS tendencies was enacted on its Perspective.

This study will use Hallidayan Systemic Functional linguistic theory to examine ISEAS-Yushof Ishak Institute Perspective. This study will also be using

Appraisal theory to advance the analysis. This study aims to undergoes what narration of ISEAS build to influence Indonesia 2019 presidential election and its effect to the candidate, specifically Joko Widodo as the incumbent. These two theories will be explained in the next chapter.

1.2 Research Question

1. How do the articles represent Joko Widodo’s political stance on the 2019 presidential election Indonesia?

2. How do the articles represent Joko Widodo’s religious stance on the 2019 presidential election Indonesia?

3. How do the articles represent the ISEAS’s stance vis-à-vis the 2019 presidential election Indonesia?

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1.3 Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to examine and undergo on how ISEAS Perspective showcased Jokowi in 2019 presidential election, his religious stances, and examine

ISEAS political tendencies through their published articles.

1.4 Scope of the study

The researcher limits the scope of the study on ISEAS perspective from 2019-

2020. In the study, the stratified purposeful sampling is used by selecting 5 articles from ISEAS. This study will deploy M.A.K Halliday Systemic Functional Linguistic

(SFL) and Appraisal Theory. The study analyzes the tendencies of ISEAS during 2019 presidential election to Joko Widodo’s candidacy.

1.5 Significance of the study

The study outcomes are expected to contribute in several aspect. Firstly, the study is aimed at (1) contributing to Media studies by examining related topics on specific discourse, (2) giving a new perspective towards Indonesia political constellation and raised readers’ awareness especially on political issues based on foreign media perspective, (3) giving insight about Systemic Functional Linguistic postulated by M.A.K Halliday and Appraisal theory, and lastly, serving as a reference in conducting future research regarding the related issues.

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