JAKARTA (ANN/JAKARTA POST) — Presidential candidates and their running mates are leveraging the widespread popularity of the video-sharing and live-streaming platform TikTok to garner support from Indonesia’s young electorate, constituting the majority of voters in the upcoming February election.
Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan made a noteworthy entry onto TikTok on Thursday, just days before the New Year’s Eve celebration. He initiated a live stream from East Java, named “Temani Saya di Jalan” (accompany me on the road), attracting a viewership of 300,000.
His second livestream on Saturday surpassed the initial audience, drawing over 420,000 viewers. In the aftermath of Anies’ TikTok presence, a fan account emerged on X, formerly Twitter, reminiscent of pages dedicated to K-Pop idols. The account, sharing clips of Anies’ live streams with captions in Korean script, has garnered nearly 100,000 followers by Tuesday.
Commenting on his social media success, Anies expressed on Sunday his intention to persist in TikTok activities, open to discussing any topic during live streams, as quoted by kompas.com.
Mahfud, during his livestream, encouraged viewers to aspire to personal improvement in the upcoming year. Following Anies’ lead, Mahfud appears set to continue his social media engagement, with a deputy campaign manager for the Ganjar-Mahfud pair expressing TikTok as an effective means to reach a broader voter base.
Andika Perkasa, a former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander, stated, “With this strategy, we hope to reach out to as many [people] as we can,” as quoted by kompas.com.
Campaign Banter
While Anies and Mahfud make their presence felt on TikTok, VP candidate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, running mate to presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, is making waves on his X account.
Gibran, at 36, the youngest name on the presidential ballot, regularly shares internet memes with his 1.2 million followers, including some self-deprecating ones referring to him as Samsul and comparisons to Ganjar’s son, Muhammad Zinedine Alam Ganjar.
Gibran’s performance at the first vice presidential debate on Dec 22 inspired various memes featuring the slang phrase “let him cook,” which he himself tweeted after the debate. The phrase is used to encourage someone to give sufficient time or space to perform a task they may prove to be good at.
When asked on Tuesday about his TikTok debut, Gibran mentioned consulting with his running mate Prabowo Subianto.
Prabowo, the leading candidate, has been the subject of several internet memes, mostly depicting him as gemoy (adorable). Throughout the campaign, Prabowo and his team sought to transform his image from a pugnacious military man to a gemoy character with a penchant for spontaneous dance.
Campaign Strategies
Data from the General Elections Commission (KPU) reveals that 52 per cent of the country’s 204 million registered voters are under 40. A third of all registered voters are millennials, while 22 per cent belong to Generation Z.
With a majority of the voter roll being younger individuals, all three candidate pairs are tailoring their campaign efforts towards this demographic.
During a tour of Central Java last week, Ganjar introduced a series of campaign promises aimed at enhancing national education and eliminating poverty. These include a “one university graduate for each poor family” policy, as well as initiatives for free vocational school and internet access.
The Prabowo-Gibran campaign manifesto incorporates several youth and child-oriented policies, such as providing free lunches and milk at school, improving school infrastructure nationwide, and introducing additional social welfare programs.
Anies and running mate Muhaimin Iskandar have been hosting public discussions named Desak Anies (challenge Anies) and Slepet Imin (hit Muhaimin) across various parts of the country to engage young people in policy discussions. These events invite the public to pose questions, make suggestions, or express criticism of the candidates.
