Observers Assess The Cleverness Of Propaganda In DKI Makes Anies Worthy Of Being A National-Scale Political Figure

JAKARTA - Political observer from Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah assessed that Anies Baswedan is no longer perceived as a regional political figure, but has become a national-scale political figure.

"Anies is no longer seen as a figure who is only perceived as a DKI Jakarta figure, but instead Anies has been included in the category of a national figure, even though his authority and political stage are in DKI Jakarta," said Dedi in a virtual discussion, Thursday, March 24.

Even though he still serves as regional head, Anies can be considered a national political figure because he was good at propaganda while he was governor of DKI Jakarta.

In a sense, Anies has succeeded in developing a narrative that aims to raise his image to the public, through statements regarding the conditions and problems related to his performance in Jakarta.

Dedi said that the good public response to Anies could be seen from the results of the IPO survey some time ago. Where, Anies is the head of which region is most considered responsive or moves quickly when there is a crucial matter.

As many as 30.5 percent of respondents said Anies was responsive in dealing with public issues. Below him, 15.3 percent of respondents chose Ganjar Pranowo.

"The public's response to what is happening in Jakarta includes the response to its success in carrying out propaganda. Maybe it's not necessarily an achievement for regional heads, but it's certainly an achievement for DKI Jakarta propaganda that has been successfully perceived by the public as a responsive governor in handling several crucial matters," said Dedi.

Dedi gave an example of Anies' performance in DKI, namely flood management. According to Dedi, Anies is not necessarily successful in overcoming this classic problem in Jakarta. However, with the propaganda carried out, Anies can be considered successful from a political perspective.

"In the political concept, there must be a correlation between performance and propaganda. That is, regarding development achievements, performance records, it is actually not more important than how to package good sentences to be conveyed to the public," he added.