Having No Good Track Record, Even The Name Of Si Doel Is Difficult To Attract Public Sympathy In The Jakarta Pilkada

Jakarta Deputy Governor Rano Karno's Candidate in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada follows a free-to-drive (CFD) day in the HI Roundabout area, Jakarta, Sunday (22/9/2024). (Instagram/@si.rano)

JAKARTA The addition of Si Doel to the name Rano Karno in the 2024 Jakarta Governor and Deputy Governor Election is predicted to have no significant impact in building public sympathy. The former governor of Banten is said to have had no positive track record in his career as a public official.

The General Election Commission (KPU) of DKI Jakarta has finally allowed the use of Si Doel's name for Cawagub Rano Karno in the 2024 Pilkada. The Head of the Technical Division of the Jakarta KPU Organizers, Dody Wijaya, said the permit was granted after his party received a response from the public.

According to Dody, a Jakarta resident has known Haji Rano Karno better through his role as Si Doel. In addition, the KPU also received a copy of the decision of the South Jakarta court which stated that the names of Rano Karno, H Rano Karno SIP and Si Doel were the same people based on the Determination of Court Number 899/pdt.p/2024/pn.jkt.sel.

"Therefore, the public proposes that Si Doel's name can be included in the ballot paper. Haji Rano Karno's writing in Si Doel's bracket," he said.

Si Doel is the main character in an old soap opera entitled Si Doel Anak Sekolah which premiered in 1993, which was adapted from the novel Si Doel Anak Betawi Karta Aman Datuk Majoindo. Doel's character is played by Rano Karno. This soap opera has a storyline about Doel's life and his family, the Betawi family who still maintains traditional values despite living in the midst of the flow of modernization in urban Jakarta.

The use of stage names in political contestation is often associated with electability and popularity. With a more public-known stage name, it is hoped that it can increase the electability of the candidate. However, this was denied by a number of observers.

Although the soap opera has been completed for a long time, Si Doel is still attached to the man who was born on October 8, 1960. Thanks to his role in the soap opera and Si Doel film, many think that Rano Karno is a Betawi native son.

However, even though he was born in Jakarta, this PDI-P politician is actually a Minang person. The ancestral line was obtained from his father, Soekarno M.Noer, who is a Bonjol, Pasaman, West Sumatra. In 2016, Rano Karno was found to have returned to his father's hometown in Bonjol to trace his family tree. Rano Karno admitted that at that time he did not know whether their family was still in Bonjol.

"Nenek has always been in Jakarta. Two brothers, all of them have died. We will trace this again. We will be assisted by the local Nagari Mayor who really invited us to come back here," said Rano Karno.

After successfully playing Si Doel, Rano Karno began to enter politics. He had surprised the public in 2007 when he was said to be running as the Cawagub of DKI Jakarta. However, he resigned from the DKI Pilkada after the Si Doel family advertisement appeared to support Fauzi Bowo.

Still in the same year, Rano Karno appeared as a candidate for Deputy Regent of Tangerang to accompany Candidate for Regent Ismet Iskandar in the 2008 Pilkada. He won the regional election that year and officially became Deputy Regent of Tangerang for the 2008-2013 period.

In 2011, Rano became Deputy Governor of Banten accompanying Ratu Atut Chosiyah, after winning the Banten Pilkada. However, since May 13, 2014, he was appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to serve as Acting Governor of Banten replacing Ratu Atut Chosiyah who was disabled in connection with the election bribery case at the Constitutional Court (MK).

Although not a new person in the political arena, Rano Karno is considered not to have a good job record for Jakarta. Even the electability of the Pramono Anung-Rano Karno pair ahead of the simultaneous regional elections which will be held in November is not very good.

Recently, a number of survey institutions have issued the latest survey results related to electability or the electability level of candidate pairs. According to the 2024 LSI survey conducted on 1,200 people on September 1-12, the Ridwan Kamil-Suswono pair is still ranked first with an electability of 51.8 percent. This figure far outperforms Pramono Anung-Rano Karno in second place with 28.4 percent and independent partner Dharma Pongrekun-Kun Wardana 3.2 percent.

Therefore, the Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion, Dedi Kurnia Syah, assessed that the addition of Si Doel's name would not have a positive impact on boosting Rano Karno's electability. He has two reasons to support his statement that the addition of Si Doel's name will not have a far impact in the Jakarta Pilkada.

First, Si Doel's name has popularity for voters, especially the established age group, but for the case in Jakarta the name is generally known by the current majority of voters. So it doesn't have a significant impact.

Second, Si Doel as the name of the role does not have a reputation that is in line with leadership for Jakarta. Rano has served as Deputy Governor, Governor and DPR, and none of these positions were used in his promotion, marking that Rano actually does not have a good job record for Jakarta. So even with the name Si Doel, public sympathy will not be built," said Dedi via text message to VOI.

The use of stage names in political contestation is actually not the only time this has happened. In the 2024 election alone, a number of Indonesian celebrities entered their stage names when they entered the political arena. Call it Ellfonda Mekel who proposed a temporary name change to court to use Once Mekel during the 2024 election. Likewise with Komeng (Alfiansyah Bustami), Uya Kuya (President Surya), Denny Cagur (Denny Wahyudi) funds.

Ubedillah Badrun, a socio-political analyst, has discussed the phenomenon of artists choosing stage names rather than real names in the world of politics during the legislative elections earlier this year. According to him, Using a better-known name in this society, artists hope to be able to netizen more people. Moreover, for the case of the legislative election, there are no photos on the election papers for DPR RI members, but only the names of the candidates.

"Artists choose stage names rather than real names in the 2024 legislative election because they seem very confident that their stage name is so popular and believes that popularity correlates with electability. Whereas in the liberalistic elections there is not always high popularity. will get high electability," said Ubedillah Badrun.

He emphasized that determining one's electability in elections is direct political work between candidates and constituents who have met intensively for years to listen to the aspirations of constituents or the people in the constituency and they bind themselves together to be together in the same political ranks.