Presidential candidate Number 02 Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech at the 20th anniversary of the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers\' Union (FSPMI) in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, Wednesday (06/02/2019). Prabowo appreciated the support given by the FSPMI for the presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno.
As support engines for their presidential and vice presidential candidates, volunteers have to move up to the grass roots to greet residents. However, their tasks are not without challenges. They are hindered by cost limitations, lack of campaign materials and unfriendly citizens.
A stall with vintage nuances was a silent witness of the emak-emak (housewive) movement incorporated in the Emak-emak Party supporting Prabowo-Sandiaga or abbreviated as Pepes. From the store in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, dozens of women declared Pepes in August 2018 to answer Sandiaga Uno\'s desire to form an Emak-emak association.
ANTARA FOTO/HAFIDZ MUBARAK
Presidential candidate Number 01 Joko “Jokowi” Widodo delivers a speech while attending a declaration of support of high school alumni throughout Jakarta at Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Sunday (10/2/2019). The declaration was to back up the presidential and vice-presidential candidate pair Number 01 Joko Widodo-Ma\'ruf Amin to win in the 2019 general election.
For the founder and national chairperson of Pepes, Wulan, the organization is an effort to help Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno gain the votes of housewives. Starting from tweets on social media, she has attracted hundreds of housewives to form Pepes in 34 provinces. Now, the volunteer organization claims to have 3,000 members.
Since the last year-end, Pepes has focused on running the Pepes Kepung program (Pepes Going Around the Kampung). "We are moving on our own. There is no contact with supporting political parties or candidates," Wulan said on Sunday (10/2/2019).
The Pepes Kepung program targets Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Ma’ruf Amin base areas, especially those adjacent to markets and slums. Pepes moves from house to house to meet the residents. When visiting, Pepes also distributes stickers and key chains with Prabowo\'s face.
Without assistance
Like Wulan with her Pepes, Sulianto Rusli with his Bhinneka Jaya Volunteers (Bara Baja) also move on their own. As a supporter of Jokowi-Ma\'ruf, the Baja Bara volunteers are moving on their own without being accompanied by any party or supported by a winning team. This is different from the situation in the 2014 general election when volunteers went hand in hand with political parties.
As a result, volunteers move without financial support and campaign props from the success team. Rustam Effendi Nainggolan, the chairperson of Nusantara Volunteers for Jokowi (N4J), based in North Sumatra, complained about the same thing. He sent messages for several times to the National Campaign Team of Jokowi-Ma\'ruf in Jakarta to send aid for campaign props for volunteers in North Sumatra, but the messages were never responded.
Therefore, Rustam also asked for contributions from the volunteers. Finally, around Rp 20 million was collected. "This problem might make many volunteers in the regions find difficulties to move so that they choose to campaign on social media, not on the fields," he said.
Logistical constraints were also experienced by the Prabowo-Sandi Volunteer Network (Jarpas). During the 2014 general election, around 80 percent of logistical needs, including campaign attributes, came
from the winning agency of Prabowo-Hatta based in Rumah Polonia. "There volunteers simply took anything they needed," said Jarpas coordinator Yahdil Abdi Harahap.
With such limitations, there are not many mass gathering events that can be carried out by Jarpas. Besides logistical limitations, Jokowi-Ma’ruf volunteers also faced challenges during campaigning where citizens are bombarded by hoax issues believed by a part of them.
Surya Fermana, 39, has been volunteering for Jokowi since the 2014 presidential election. The hoaxes, he said, become a challenge of its own for the volunteers in the Jokowi-Maufuf camp. Because the spread of disinformation is so massive, even among educated people, the volunteers have to turn their minds to convince citizens that the information they receive is baseless.
In the midst of various challenges, the volunteers continued their campaign to win support for their presidential candidates. Hopefully the "sweat" of the volunteers can be rewarded with excellent performances when the presidential candidate they support is chosen as the leader of the nation .... ( SAN/ REK/ E21/AGE)
