Coalition Without Footing
Over the last two months until the end of the registration period of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs, on August 10, 2018, political maneuvers have continued to be carried out by prospective candidates and political parties.
The main problem is to determine the vice presidential candidate in the two camps, both in the incumbent camp of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and in the challenging camp of Prabowo Subianto. The basic question that arises is whether the determination of the vice presidential candidates is based on the same vision and mission (ideological similarity), or is it just pure mathematical-political calculations to win the contestation?
In the incumbent camp, for example, the supporting parties that we can call a coalition was solid enough as seen from a series of reports about how Jokowi consolidated himself by inviting political party leaders, namely Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), United Development Party (PPP), Nasdem Party, Hanura Party, even political parties that do not have seats in the DPR, namely United Indonesia Party (Perindo) and Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI).
Meanwhile, the Prabowo camp, besides Gerindra Party, several other political parties have consolidated with each other, namely Democratic Party, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and National Mandate Party (PAN). However, until one day before the end of the registration period, the two camps had not yet announced who their vice-presidential would be -- let alone registering with the General Election Commission (KPU).
This condition illustrates how dynamic Indonesian contemporary politics is. The coalition is interpreted only to the extent of joining several political parties to support the same presidential-vice presidential candidate pairs even though of course in its process there was a discussion about the vision and mission of the presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs.
David Apter said that a coalition is a collection of individuals or social groups which have their own vision and mission, which then join together for a common goal so that their original vision and mission become disguised. The social coalition will collapse and split if it has achieved what is the common goal of the (coalition), especially if it is associated with the distribution of power in socio-political groups.
The political dynamics of Indonesia is actually a "normal" condition in the context of political culture that grows on the land of Indonesia. What is meant by the political culture is the growing awareness that Indonesia is heterogeneous so that the presidential election contestation is more interpreted through direct election method, but the ways of its contestation remain to use the old way, which combines two main forces in the community, namely abangan and santri plus priayi as mentioned in the thesis of Clifford Geertz, an American anthropologist who conducted research on Indonesia (especially Java) in the famous book, The Religion of Java.
The two camps of the presidential candidate pairs are seen trying to combine the forces referred to in society. How Jokowi tries to eliminate the stigma of Islamopobia, apart from forming a coalition with several Islamic parties (PPP and PKB), he is also cooperating with (as his vice presidential candidate) several religious figures, such as the figure of Ma\'ruf Amin and Mahfud MD.
Meanwhile, Prabowo is associated with a coalition of societies, including the Alumni 212 Brotherhood and the existence of the Ijtima Ulama (Ulema Congregation), which proposed two names, namely Salim Segaf Al\'Jufrie (PKS) and Ustaz Abdul Somad (later insisted that he did not want to participate in political contestation). Even the coalition in Prabowo\'s camp put pressure if not choosing one of the two names from the Ijtima Ulama, the coalition would be broken. PKS and PAN still open space to not join Prabowo\'s coalition.
”Ijo royo-royo” phenomenon
During the New Order era, around the last 10 years of President Soeharto’s leadership, the term ijo royo-royo emerged, when power was very close or at least tried to approach Muslims who were previously marginalized. This is certainly in the context of how to be able to continue to hold the power by approaching community groups that have a major influence on the nation\'s political life.
Today, a similar condition arises, namely how the two camps try to approach Muslims who are considered to have significant influence. The difference is that today the process of the transfer of power is done directly so that it will be very visible how the influence of Muslims in the election that gives direct votes (one person, one vote, one value). Nevertheless, it must also be seen in Indonesia\'s political history that the power of Muslims is not always in one camp.
By not separating the two largest Islamic organizations, in fact in the strength of Muslims there is always a difference in addressing political conditions. Since the inception of the Masjumi, which was followed by the exit of Nahdlatul Ulama and later became a political force of its own until the reform period, it can be seen how the political power of Islam tends to be spread in several mass-based Islamic political parties, such as PKB, PPP, PKS, PAN, and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
Similarly the nationalists and the workforce are spread in several political parties since the beginning of the reform era by changing their names until finally today are represented by several political parties, such as PDI-P, Golkar, Gerindra, Nasdem, Hanura, Perindo, and PSI, plus several new political parties (old faces), namely the Working Party and the Garuda Party.
Looking at such conditions, in fact the above-mentioned question can be answered that the coalition being formed is not based on the similarity of the vision and mission (ideology) from the beginning, but rather the calculation of political mathematics based on collaboration between nationalists and religious figures, plus the priyayi (following Geertz term). Therefore, anyone who will come to power will not differ greatly in carrying out the mandate of the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila.
The only difference is how to carry out the mandate. Indeed, the existence of elements in power as happened in the past, even in any part of the world, as an impact of the increasingly globalized the world today, needs to be watched out.
Our toughest test is to maintain diversity and a sense of nationalism today. The spirit of nationalism that exists must be adjusted to the conditions of the times by remaining to be based on the state basis of Pancasila and the form of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia. The presidential election is just a bridge towards Indonesia, which is increasingly sovereign. The people have the right to determine the direction of this nation through their chosen leaders. The people’s correction is carried out every five years. Hopefully Indonesia will be more advanced without having to split and fight among the nation\'s children. (Indra Pahlevi, Expertise Agency Research Center of the House of Representatives (DPR))