JAKARTA: From hectic metropolitan cities to placid rural areas, nearly every corner of Indonesia has for months been crowded by billboards, banners and posters bearing the image of presidential and parliamentary member candidates, and their number seems to be growing as the Feb 14 general elections draw near.
Many of the candidates featured are seasoned politicians who have served as members of parliament (MP) for a number of terms like Mdm Eva Kusuma Sundari, former regional leaders like Mr Dedi Mulyadi or children of politically renowned parents like Mdm Siti Hediati Haryadi, the daughter of Indonesia’s second president Suharto, who ruled the country with an iron fist for three decades.
But in the eyes of many Indonesians, there is something amiss with the campaign materials supporting these three politicians.
Mdm Sundari, 58, was for nearly two decades a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) yet for next year’s election she is running under the National Democratic Party (Nasdem).
As for Mr Mulyadi, the 52-year-old was for 24 years a member of Golkar Party before making the move to the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) this year.
Meanwhile, 64-year-old Mdm Haryadi, better known as Titiek Suharto, has a more tortuous political journey. She was first a member of Golkar, which was established by her father; before joining Berkarya, a party formed by her brother Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy Suharto, in 2018.
This year, she switched parties again by running for an MP post under Gerindra, a party founded by her ex-husband: defence minister and three-time presidential candidate, Mr Prabowo Subianto.
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