SURABAYAPAGI.com, Jakarta - The population of Indonesia which is predominantly Muslim does not correlate directly with the level of vote acquisition of political parties that have Islamic ideals such as PKB, PAN, PKS, PPP, and the United Nations. This also happened in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) in the 2014 legislative elections.
Based on NTB KPUD data, the most votes were obtained by Golkar with 333,282 votes, Democrats with 318,713 votes, and Gerindra with 263,621 votes. There is no name for Islamic parties in the top three political parties in NTB.
PKS became an Islamic political party with the most votes in 2014 Pileg in NTB with 253,870 votes, followed by PAN which was in sixth position with 196,074, PKB ranked eighth with 182,320 votes and PPP ranked ninth with 172,421 votes. While the UN only ranked second lowest with 83,768 votes.
Director of the Mataram M16 Social and Political Study Institute Bambang Mei Finarwanto in a conversation with Republika some time ago said that the NTB community still has a tendency to choose based on figure factors. In 2014, many Democrats benefited because of the NTB Governor figure for the period 2008-2018 Mr. Guru Bajang (TGB) Zainul Majdi who is a highly respected charismatic figure in NTB.
The TGB, who also serves as the Chairperson of the Executive Board of Nahdaltul Wathan (PBNW), is a role model for NW worshipers. Bambang considered, the transfer of TGB from the Democrats to Golkar would benefit Golkar and further strengthen the position of Golkar as the winning political party back in NTB in the 2019 legislative election.
"The TGB to Golkar must have an influence on the NW mass in the presidential election and the legislative election later," Bambang said.
Besides Democrats, the achievement of Gerindra in NTB which was ranked third in the 2014 legislative elections was also inseparable from the figure of Prabowo Subianto. The landslide victory of the Prabowo-Hatta pair by gaining votes was 1,844,178 or 72.45 percent, or far compared to the acquisition of Jokowi-JK which as many as 701,238 or 27.54 percent boosted the votes of Gerindra in NTB.
Political observers from the University of Mataram (Unram) Asrin said the contestation of the 2019 Presidential Election and Pileg in NTB would be much tighter as the TGB joined the Jokowi-Maruf camp. Golkars victory in NTB, said Asrin, is inseparable from Golkars image that has become so embedded in the minds of the people. Although Golkar no longer relied on certain figures, it proved to be able to hold on to winning votes in NTB to become number one in 2014.
"Golkar has been able to survive various kinds of dynamics, although it does not rely on figures, Golkar has a strong voter base on the bureaucratic order," said Asrin.
The low level of votes of Islamic political parties in NTB did not dampen the optimism of Islamic parties in facing the 2019 legislative election. Chairman of the PAN DPW NTB Muazzim Akbar expressed his belief that PAN would be the winner in the 2019 legislative election in NTB. His belief was based on massive party work and also the attitude of his party that supported the Prabowo-Sandiaga pair.
"God willing, PAN is optimistic to be a winner in NTB. PAN cadres in NTB benefit from the presence of Prabowo-Sandiaga," said Muazzim.
The Muazzim who also advanced in the Pileg for the Indonesian House of Representatives through the electoral district (II) or Lombok Island was optimistic that NTB community support for Prabowo would benefit PAN. The coalition party itself targets Prabowo-Sandiaga to win in NTB with a target of at least 75 percent.
"Seeing the spirit of our NTB community, we are increasingly optimistic and confident that Prabowo-Sandiaga won and PAN has also risen," said the Muazzim.
PAN, he said, remained focused on the issues of the current government condition which assessed that the gap was getting bigger, the prices were increasingly expensive, the increase in fuel prices, the difficulty of employment, and the unresolved handling of earthquake-affected residents.
"This realization (rehabilitation and reconstruction) that does not yet exist makes the NTB community more difficult and more compact to voice changes," said the Muazzim.
Muazzim considered that the presidential and legislative elections held simultaneously benefited PAN candidates who fought. According to him, PAN candidates have benefited from the preferences of the NTB community for the figure of Prabowo-Sandiaga. rk
