Many People Think There Is No Dynastic Politics In The Jokowi Family

Median survey results regarding the public's response to the advancement of Gibran Rakabuming Raka (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo's son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is running for the 2020 Pilkada for Mayor of Solo. Many say this is a form of dynastic politics. However, this assumption is refuted from the Median survey. As many as 55.5 percent of Solo residents think that Gibran's advancement is not a form of political dynasty.

This survey was conducted on 3-9 December 2019 and was attended by 800 respondents who were randomly selected with a margin of error of 3.5 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent. The survey technique uses multistage random sampling and is proportional to the subdistrict population and gender.

"As many as 55.5 percent of residents think that Gibran's advance is not a political dynasty, while 41.6 percent say that Gibran's advance is a political dynasty," said Rico Marbun, director of the Median Survey Institute in the Cikini area, Central Jakarta, Monday, December 16.

Rico explained that there were three reasons the public did not consider Gibran's advancement as dynastic politics. First, 41.3 percent of respondents hoped that Gibran could become like President Jokowi, who had served as Mayor of Solo for two terms.

"Second, as many as 19.4 percent of respondents thought Gibran was young and third, Gibran was considered to be able to bring change. There were 14.7 respondents who thought it was like that," said Rico.

This survey also caught as much as 40 percent of voters aged 17-19 years prefer Gibran over Achmad. Meanwhile, Achmad was chosen by respondents whose age was 30-39 with a percentage of 61.5 percent.

Regarding electability, Gibran's position is now in second place among a number of prospective candidates who will run. In the first position, based on the survey results, Achmad Purnomo, who is the incumbent candidate and the candidate for DPC PDI Perjuangan Solo, is still superior.

"Achmad Purnomo has 40.1 percent electability, while Gibran is in second place, 19.1," said Rico, adding that the actual fight in the 2020 Pilwalkot belongs only to Achmad and Gibran, who are both from PDIP.

Also reflecting on the electability, a survey conducted by Median also found that the PDIP voters would be divided into the Pilwalkot if Gibran and Achmad were to face off in the match.

"PDIP voters are relatively divided between Achmad Purnomo, who from the survey results obtained 43.7 percent of votes from PDIP voters versus Gibran who got 36.7 percent of the vote," he said.

There is something interesting in this discussion, because from the results of this survey many young people who are resistant to the issue of dynastic politics, instead support Gibran's advancement at the 2020 Pilwalkot Solo. Rico said, many young people or novice voters aged 17-19 years and 20-29 In fact, he considers the advancement of President Joko Widodo's eldest son to be a positive thing.

This young man, said Rico, also considered Gibran's advancement not because of the advantages he had as the president's son. Because, he participated in the 2020 Pilwalkot competition fairly with all existing processes.

"We see that he doesn't get a 'toll road', this is a bit different from the dynastic politics of the New Order era. Nobody dared to fight back then, it's different from now," explained Rico while explaining that young people chose Gibran because they wanted change.

"That's why young people think it's not a political dynasty, it's simple but that's what happened," he added.

Rico explained, if Gibran wants to win at the 2020 Pilwalkot Solo, he must be able to prove himself capable. Likewise with Achmad, who must be able to reach out to young voters who are aged 17-29 years.

"If Gibran wants to win, he has to raise (adapt) the perception that Ahmad Purnomo has, which is considered experienced and populist. And vice versa," he concluded.