Elections that spark joy

Indonesia’s highly serious election for a new president also comes with a tradition of festival-like fun. All the better to avoid national divisions.

The Monitor's View

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, holds an election Feb. 14 that will shape the future of the Southeast Asian giant. The stakes are as serious as ever. Three candidates are vying to become president and have engaged in the usual hard knocks of politics. Yet for the average Indonesian, election campaigns have long been useful for something else.

They are an opportunity for joy, or what is known as pesta demokrasi (democracy fiesta). With a population spread over thousands of islands, Indonesia is well known for its diverse culture of performances – expressive dances, puppetry, dramas, music, and costumes. That doesn’t stop for elections. Campaigns are like theater or celebrations, with citizens as spectators.

Take, for example, the leading presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, a former army general who once suppressed pro-democracy activists under a former dictator. He has gained popularity with young people by dancing on a stage like a silly grandfather. Another candidate, Anies Baswedan, a former governor of Jakarta, caters to fans of K-pop by using TikTok to reveal details of his personal life.

In past elections, local officials have spruced up voting booths with themes, such as a spooky house, to help increase voter turnout. For this election, the exuberance of campaigning – especially in the number of banners, posters, and flags – has been so vast that local officials have been told to recycle campaign props, not dump them as waste in landfills.

The boisterous bounty of party fun serves a purpose. The current president, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who enjoys a huge popularity, says he does not want Indonesia’s democracy to become a war zone. A country so big and diverse cannot afford ugly identity politics, divisive disinformation, or campaign violence. Ensuring joy in campaigns is part of an antidote to all that.

“The pesta demokrasi (fiesta of democracy) is a cause for celebration not only for Indonesia, but also for democracy and forces for peace all over the globe,” India’s ambassador to Indonesia, Sandeep Chakravorty, wrote in The Jakarta Post.

This election, in which some 204 million voters will choose more than 20,000 representatives, is one of the world’s most complex. For the sake of national harmony, elections must be a “consolidating event,” Jokowi said.

“We cannot afford to let the candidates have good relations, while their supporters, including those in regions, are still fighting each other,” he said last year. An election, he added, “is a festival for the people, an occasion that is supposed to bring joy rather than anxiety.”