Anies Baswedan Can't Just Rely On Popularity, It's Time To Wear A Party Jacket

Anies Baswedan was abandoned by almost all parties in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada allegedly because he was reluctant to be bound by political parties. (Instagram/@aniesbaswedan)

JAKARTA Swallowing two defeats in two consecutive contests in the same year should make Anies Baswedan rethink his political career in Indonesia. Some observers think it is time for the former governor of Jakarta to wear a party jacket if he does not want to continue to be ignored.

The PDI-P (PDIP) decision to carry its own cadres, Pramono Anung and Rano Karno, to fight in the 2024 Jakarta Governor and Deputy Governor Elections is a major blow to Anies Baswedan.

How could it not, Anies seemed to lose before the match because none of the parties wanted to give him his blessing to enliven the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada contestation.

The NasDem Party, PKS, and PKB are right-back compact without the Minister of Education in 2014-2016. They are tempted to join the Forward Indonesia Coalition (KIM) to carry Ridwan Kamil-Suswono's pair. With the addition of the three parties, the fat coalition changed slightly to KIM Plus.

A political observer from Al-Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin, said that the current situation experienced by Anies was a consequence of non-party figures.

According to Ujang, it has become commonplace for non-party figures to be abandoned by political parties at any time because they prioritize cadres.

Whereas previously, Anies' closeness to PDIP was predicted to be one way to tackle Ridwan Kamil-Suswono in Jakarta. But what can I say, PDIP is also apparently reluctant to carry Anies.

One of the allegations is that Anies still insists on his stance as an independent candidate, rejecting the frills of party cadres as Megawati Soekarnoputri challenged some time ago.

Anies' high electability apparently did not become enough capital to attract the party to carry him in the Jakarta Pilkada.

Andriadi Achmad as Executive Director of PolCom SRC (Political Communication Studies and Research Center) explained that Anies Baswedan was unable to provide the effect of a coat or coat-tail effect that was expected by parties that had carried him.

The tail effect of a suit is a term used in politics to illustrate the impact of a policy or decision that has an impact not only on the direct target of the policy, but also on other groups or areas involved.

In the context of elections, this term refers to how voter decisions in one electoral position can affect the outcome of other electoral positions.

Andriadi said, in a political battle there must be considerations of profit and loss in deciding support, both in the presidential and regional elections. Anies Baswedan, with all his popularity, is said to have not provided profits to the supporting party, at least that is what happened in the 2024 presidential election.

The effect of the tail of the suit that is expected from the candidate cannot be underestimated. Learning from the last presidential election, it is not clear who will benefit from the effect of the tail of the coat from Anies Baswedan's candidacy," Andriadi explained to VOI.

Karena, tidak jelas posisi Anies Baswedan sebagai kader parpol mana. Nasdem dan PKS tampaknya tidak terlalu berkuntung dalam pencalonan Anies Baswedan dalam Pilpres 2024. PKB cukup mendapat efek tail dari kehadiran Cak Imin sebagai Cawapres 2024, ia menambahkan.

Reflecting on the experience of the last presidential election, political parties such as PKS, PKB or Nasdem are thinking again about advancing Anies Baswedan to the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada.

Meanwhile, they are also offered a more realistic option, namely joining KIM in a more attractive government, especially for PKS which immediately gets a share of cawagub through Suswono.

Since entering politics, Anies Baswedan has remained in his stance not to join any political parties. On the one hand, Anies is considered not to want to be driven by political parties because he prioritizes the interests of the people.

But on the other hand, Anies' attitude is actually seen as a 'finding to be safe' way to be able to easily change the supporting party, because he is not bound by any political party.

While advancing in the 2017 Jakarta Pilkada and 2024 Presidential Election, the former Minister of Education is the only figure who is independent or not from among parties.

Seeing what happened to Anies in this year's regional election, Andriadi Achmad said it was time for the former governor of Jakarta to join the political parties.

Andriadi gave an example of how the founding fathers or fathers of the nation in Indonesia are members of political parties, such as Soekarno (PNI), Sutan Sjahrir (PSI), Muhammad Natsir (Masyumi) and others.

In the reform era, there were other names such as Gus Dur (PKB), Amien Rais (PAN/Ummat Party), Yusril Ihza Mahendra (PBB), Wiranto (Hanura), Jusuf Kalla (Golkar), Megawati (PDI-P), Prabowo Subianto (Gerindra), Jokowi (PDI-P), Hidayat Nurwahid (PKS) and other figures.

Seeing the row of national figures who are bound by the party, Andriadi said, there is nothing wrong with Anies Baswedan being a cadre of political parties.

Even speaking in the context of global democracy, it seems that there are no political leaders (presidents or governors) who are not from political parties. For example, Barack Obama (Democratic Party), Donald Trump (Civil Party) and other countries, "explained the Lecturer of FISIP at Al-Azhar University Indonesia.

"This means that political leadership must be born from political cadres, as one of the goals of political parties is to prepare leadership, both regional and state levels," he added.