Does Radical Political Orientation Lead to Political Distrust in the

Public Election of 2019 in Medan?

Muryanto Amin

Political Department, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. dr. Mansyur No. 1 Kampus USU, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Political Orientation, Radical, Distrust, General Election.

Abstract: Institutional and political distrust is often attributed to the increasing of radical performance among voters.

This study analyzes the political distrust that appears in the 2019 concurrent elections related to the radical

voter position associated with religious issues. The study examined voters in Medan – a city in Indonesia

with a diverse culture and a divided political party providing the support of presidential candidates. The

research uses interviews on key informant that plays a crucial role in radically moving voters and

confirming it to their network. Using context analysis, we found that during the legislative and presidential

elections in Medan, radical informant emerged more likely to be politically unbelievers, than informants

claiming to have moderate political understanding. Our findings suggest that political distrust can be

explained by the preference of the chosen informant.

1 INTRODUCTION

Indonesia's politics does not become acquainted with

any radical or moderate cleavage that voters believe,

but the emergence of radical political potential in

Indonesia is influenced by ethnic or religious

(Geertz, 1960; King, 2003; Mujani and Liddle,

2010). There are not many radical electorate studies,

except for terrorism in Bali (Gurtner, 2016) and

some other lokalism (Castle, 2001; Aspinal, 2003;

Nordholt, 2005; Erman, 2007). Radical political

orientation strengthened again during the election of

the governor of DKI Jakarta in 2017 (Mudhoffi

2017; Hadiz, 2017), then general elections were

discussed in various forums or media that were

mobilized in identity politics and religious politics

(Mery & Napang, 2018). In its development, voters

are often presented as beings that are substantially

different about beliefs, moral feelings, fears, and

anxieties due to the growing political opinions

during the elections (Janoff-Bulman & Carnes,

2013).

This study has shown that radical orientation

raises differences from the moderate voters relating

to the motives and needs underlying political beliefs

and their judgment of elections and political parties.

In this study, however, we focused on how similar

the emergence of voters with radical and moderate

orientation to each other in their political stance. We

are specifically concentrating on how the two

different beliefs form political belief (Fernbach,

Rogers, Fox, & Sloman, 2013).

Rising standards of Indonesian society since the

1997 reform, resulted in a group of middle-class

voters appearing with moderate political views.

They channeled his political choices to political

parties that had helped to find work and sought

rather than ideological political programs. However,

not all that can be embraced by the winners of the

election year 2014 to support the program of

economic development. Political radical waves

appear attributed to the dissatisfaction of the status

quo, the mastery of Oligarkis, and the economic gap

(Mudhoffi 2017; Hadiz, 2017).

These issues became the idea of floating voters

in Indonesia which currently affects Islamic politics

and democracy in Indonesia. The group protested

the management of the election winners and

community networks that supported him. They

politicized issues leading to radical orientation and

strengthening social inequality, education for young

people with uncertain future. The issue became very

interesting when it was packaged in the rhetoric that

the Muslims became a heavily impacted group in a

widely disseminated power at the local level.

We chose Medan as the location of the study

because of the historical record of identity

Amin, M.

Does Radical Political Orientation Lead to Political Distrust in the Public Election of 2019 in Medan?.

DOI: 10.5220/0010002400510059

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 3 2019) - Social Engineering Governance for the People, Technology and Infrastructure in

Revolution Industry 4.0, pages 51-59

ISBN: 978-989-758-472-5

movements based on religion and Ethnicity (Said,

1973; Castles, 1979; Langenberg, 1982; Kahin,

1985; Ariffin, 1993; KIPP, 1996; Reid, 2014;

Rasyidin, 2016). A total of 67% of the people of the

Islamic field of religion, other religions, and the

election of 2019 were dominated by religious issues

in the campaign material to convince the Islamic

voters. The informant is derived from 7 prominent

Islamic organizations and 3 female Muslim

communities that are formed because of the common

belief and equipped with a focus group discussion.

The context analysis we use to assess the motives

and voters needs that underlie their political beliefs

and judgment on elections and political parties. We

argue that the emergence of a radical selector

expresses negative emotions about elections and

political parties rather than the politically moderate

informer. In addition, the Islamist voters had a less-

than-like radical attitude toward candidates who

came from the ruling party coalition rather than

moderate voters. This suggests that political

radicalism is negatively associated with political

belief, regardless of the ideology it believes.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Political Radicalist

Extreme or radical politics emerge from beliefs that

govern feelings of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.

Many people have a rigid conviction over something

in the form of black and white, allowing them to

provide political support for the simple solution of

its complex social and political problems (Fernbach

et al., 2013; van Prooijen & Krouwel, 2018) . This

rigid belief is then translated in the form of

intolerance to other minded groups that the lives of

everyone in the world can be predicted so as to

avoid threats (Kruglanski, Pierro, Mannetti, & De

Grada, 2006). Previous studies found that feelings of

uncertainty emerged from weak leadership, the norm

of consensus identified by radical groups (Hogg,

Meehan, & Farquharson, 2010). Radical groups feel

very confident about their own political truths and

beliefs versus moderate groups (Toner, Leary,

Asher, & Jongman-Sereno, 2013). The fear that is in

the radical group is more strongly convinced of the

truth of their solids about life in the world (Anson,

Pyszczynski, Solomon, & Greenberg, 2009).

Because of this process, it can be rationally

understood that radical political actors tend not to

trust the competition among political parties. They

only trust the information about the world only from

its political ingroup, and are always suspicious of the

information originating from the political party

group and its surroundings (Hardin, 2002). Such

thinking will always lead to opposition between ' us

versus them ' which is competitive in many ways.

Radical groups are always suspicious of one's

political rights. The group strengthened as the

increase of nationalism coincided with the

increasing suspicion of certain ethnic and religious

(Midlarsky, 2011). We reasoned that political radical

actor were more likely to not believe in political

establishment as well as display rejection of the

victorious rulers in the elections.

2.2 Political Trust

Everyone who feels afraid and prejudiced, will

always not only do not trust fellow citizens, but also

political institutions. Belief in politicians and the

overall political system always has the requisite to

suit one's wishes. Everyone has always had

suspicions to all politicians and political institutions

that are likely to be unfair in decision making.

Political belief is minimal, politicians and political

institutions are at least not considered detrimental to

society, but as a condition of necessity to maintain

law and order. Thus, political belief was

instrumental in determining the response of a

citizen's attitudes toward the actions and demands

addressed to the Government (Zmerli, Newton, &

Montero, 2007). Political belief always means that

one will evaluate the performance of politicians and

political institutions positively (Misztal, 1996).

Studies show that the emerging radical

orientation is always attributed to low belief due to

conspiracy (Inglehart, 1987). Political mistrust is

also related to policy evaluation and the tendency to

vote for parties or opposition candidates

(Hetherington, 1999). Everyone who supports the

incumbent tends to have a high political belief than

those who support the opposition. Unbelieving

voters will be more interested in the candidates who

are using an open, anti-government policy and attack

campaign (Hetherington, 1999; Luks & Citrin,

1997). Political beliefs seem to be formed by

political information and policy performance

evaluation (Bianco, 1994) of screen perception.

Political belief does not last forever for

individuals as well as society, politicians can be

trusted because of the good performance and image

of the policies he made according to the will of

society. Political beliefs can also be gained

depending on the efforts of politicians fulfilling the

general prevailing rules on how they should

ICOSOP 3 2019 - International Conference on Social Political Development (ICOSOP) 3

behaved. The image of politicians will be formed,

including his personal life, through traditional and

social media that will greatly form public opinion

about the country.

Such political involvement resulted in

widespread dissatisfaction than merely choosing and

form non-conventional political participation. Some

studies confirm that a lack of political confidence

and increased alienation will elicit active protest

behavior (Muller, Jukam, & Seligson, 1982; Pierce

& Converse, 1989). Besides, research finds that the

behavior of protest and involvement in protest is

associated with unbelief (Abravanel & Busch, 1975;

Citrin, 1977). Other studies have explained that

political participation is conducted solely because of

unbelief among politically interested individuals

(Luks in Levi & Stoker, 2010), among those who do

not have other participatory motives (Shingles,

1981), among those who expressed dissatisfied with

the ruling government policy (Miller, 1974; Craig &

Maggiotto, 1981), and among those who have a

favorable attitude toward opposition leaders (Nilson

& Nilson, 1980).

Focus our research on Medan and test whether

voters tend to express unbelief in politicians. The

city of Medan was chosen because it has a record of

ethnic and religious events that elicit identity in local

politics. Apart from the pluralism in Medan, there is

a segregative ethnic location in some areas that

competed very hard during the election year 2019.

The political belief emerged relatively unexpectedly

especially the presidential election with religious

issues wrapped in religion. This research

investigates a more specific manifestation of false

political belief, which is sentiment on anti-Islam

related to radical and moderate political opinions.

3 METHODS

This paper discusses the phenomenon of radical

orientation of voters due to political beliefs related

to religious issues in the simultaneous elections of

the year 2019 in Medan. The study used a qualitative

approach to identifying the radical orientation and

political beliefs of the figure and its network. We

conducted a thorough interview with the main

informant, which is 7 Islamic organiaations and 5

study communities formed by the similarity of

beliefs and equipped with a focus group discussion

to the experts who Associated. The context analysis

we use to assess the motives and voters’ needs that

underlie their political beliefs and judgment on

elections and political parties.

4 RESULT

4.1 Political Participation in Medan

Since the reform of the electoral system, Medan has

a record not so good the number of voters present at

the polling place. The lowest number 25.38% during

the Medan mayor elections of 2015 and the highest

occurred in 2004 by 78.21% which was the first

election after system change and the organizers of

elections. After that, voter participation present

election tends to decline or below 70%.

Diagram 1: Election participation in Medan, 2004-2019 (KPU Medan, 2019).

Does Radical Political Orientation Lead to Political Distrust in the Public Election of 2019 in Medan?

Then, during the simultaneous elections of the

legislative and the president in 2019, the

participation rate of each rose to an average of 73%

and 74.20%. The increasing electoral participation

was not as much when the governor of North

Sumatera was 2018 or 55.80%. In approximately

one year, voters participated on the day of voting

increased by 18.4%.

Concurrent elections of legislative and

presidential/Vice presidents are divided into two

coalition groups of political parties. The first

coalition consisted of 7 political party winners of the

2014 elections (PDIP, Golkar, PKB, Nasdem, PPP,

Hanura, and PKPI) called the Coalition of Indonesia

Maju nominated Joko Widodo and Ma'ruf Amin as

president and vice president. While the second

coalition consisted of a coalition of 4 political

parties (Gerindra, MCC, PAN, and Democrats)

nominated Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga S. Uno

as president and vice president and referred to him

as the Indonesian coalition of fair and prosperous.

The two coalition groups held a very violent

competition in society during the simultaneous

elections of 2019. Voters are faced with two options

relating to the choice of both political parties and

legislative candidates simultaneously.

Table 1: Coalition for political parties and presidential

candidates

(KPU, 2019).

No. Partai Koalisi Calon Presiden/

Wakil Presiden

01 Koalisi Indonesia Maju

1. PDIP (Partai Demokrasi

Indonesia Perjuangan)

Ir. Joko Widodo –

KH. Ma’ruf Amin

2. Golkar (Golongan

Karya)

3. PKB (Partai

Kebangkitan Bangsa)

4. Nasdem (Nasional

Demokrat)

5. PPP (Partai Persatuan

Pembangunan)

6. Hanura (Hati Nurani

Rakyat)

7. PKPI (Partai Keadilan

dan Persatuan Indonesia)

02. Koalisi Indonesia Adil

dan Makmur

Prabowo Subianto

–

Sadiaga Solahuddin

Uno

1. Gerindra (Gerakan

Indonesia Raya)

2. PKS (Partai Keadilan

Sejahtera)

3. PAN (Partai Amanat

Nasional)

4. Demokrat

The very hard competition became one of the

causes to increase the number of voters present at

the polling place. In addition, voters split into two

groups i.e. 01 selectors which led to the issue of

government success and voters 02 by spreading

identity issues in the theme of justice and prosperity.

According to some informant, the increasing

number of voters present at simultaneous elections

in 2019 (see Susila, Dean, Yusof, Setyawan, &

Wajdi, 2019) is due to the following competition

that is very hard to happen in approaching voters on

the basis of religious issues. We focus on

investigating the third cause to identify radical

orientation phenomena and political beliefs from the

figures and networks in the simultaneous elections

of 2019.

4.2 Radical Orientation

The cause of the emergence of radical understanding

due to feelings of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty so

that voters provide support to politicians who

provide a simple solution of complex social and

political problems (Fernbach et al., 2013; van

Prooijen & Krouwel, 2018). Such a feeling was

conveyed by an informer who was active in religious

studies as follows.

"We know from community activities that religion

is very important to choose candidates in the

elections. If we choose the Unfaith, then our

religion will not be noticed by the elected ruler.

Not only for the HOUSE but the most important

president also." (Informant 1, figure of the Islamic

organization)

In line with the informant statement, a prominent

Islamic organization stated that the mistake of

choosing politicians and presidents would result in a

life believed to be true by religion.

"Let's see, that leader could be called by

politicians. The president was a politician so he

was a member of parliament. They are if not Islam

or fight for Islam, for what is chosen. We are just

believing if it is not to be chosen because it will

not fight for our religion. There are politicians and

presidential candidates who are Islamic but

practice defending non-Muslim interests".

(Informant 2, figure of Islamic organization)

Affirmation of religious reasons used by voters

because of no trust according to Islamic teachings

submitted by the following informant.

“We can see in the media coverage, many were

arrested by the KPK because of corruption. The

election was useless, we chose the DPR, elected

the mayor, elected the president, but still many

were arrested for corruption. This government can

be trusted, the wealth of the State is exploited by

foreigners, but at the same time, the community is

ICOSOP 3 2019 - International Conference on Social Political Development (ICOSOP) 3

also not prosperous. Check it out here, highway

construction alone is not good, broken roads,

floods, theft everywhere.” (Informant 3, a figure of

Islamic organization)

Other informants add another description of the

following opinion.

“I lack confidence in the 2019 elections then

because it could be engineered. Election results in

the media KPU change very quickly and much. I

suspect this situation, as well as its implementation

because many State authorities are participating in

winning a certain candidate." (Informant 3, a

figure of the Islamic organization).

Differences of opinion on political choices were

presented by an informant of a moderate Islamic

organization figure.

“There is no link between religion and political

vote. I know that we are Muslim, the vice-

presidential candidate is “Kyai” who is also the

leader of Ulama in Indonesia. Why doubt his

religion? He (Jokowi) has been working for 5

years, he has been doing a lot of development,

giving school assistance, if we are sick we can get

free treatment. But not everyone is satisfied

because there are still many people who do not

have a job, or can not have medication when sick.

But the government is already trying, there is no

guarantee that new presidential candidates can

solve the problem more quickly.” (Informant 4, the

figure of Islamic organization)

A moderate-thinking selector conveys that

elections are the media of presenting ideas and ideas

during the campaign and will be evidenced after

being elected.

"If some people feel anxious to vote because of

ignorance, often religion is the reason. We must

choose people who have ideas to address

community problems, although religion is also

important. Because the promise is debt, so the

religious person promises to be kept. He had an

important idea and religion was chosen, do not

upside down.” (Informant 5, figure of Islamic

organization)

Each religious figure has a target group that is

often called a congregation or Ummah. In

determining the choice, most of the congregation or

Ummah, listening to the advice of a religious figure

referred to as "Ustad" or the teacher of Koran. The

congregation is grouped by location or friendship

and conducts religious activities together within a

certain agreed time. A member of the congregation

speaks about his political choices during the 2019

elections as follows.

"In every Quran recite, Ustad always convey the

choice of candidates who are religious because it

will safeguard the interests of Muslims. I believe

because I consider it true because the one that

conveys is Ustad. I do not know what is political,

we chose candidates, but Ustad told us to choose a

candidate who has the same religion as us. The

government is now not defending the interests of

Islam, many candidates from non-Islamic parties,

the religion of the presidential candidate also

doubted.” (Informant 6, a figure of the Islamic

community)

An informant from the same community of

worshippers adds the following explanation.

"Election results are often rigged. I saw it my self

that a lot of votes were fraudulently voting places

(TPS). We think so, the results are much rigged.

Candidates who should win, are made lost. That

means the election activity is not trustworthy.”

(Informant 7, a figure of the Islamic community)

Different opinions are conveyed by an informant

derived from a religious community stating the

following.

"We routinely do the recite (Al Quran), listen to

advice from Ustad. I believe that all people are

good, so are the candidates of DPR (legislative)

and presidential candidates. We must not impose

our will because Islam is a peaceful religion. Have

different options is the usual thing. Don't be

hostile just because of differences in political

choices in elections. Separating between "us" and

"them", it is not good, because we are human

beings who have to be relatives and help each

other. Islamic teachings like that, there is no

teaching to hurt people have different faiths

because they are also creations of God.”

(Informant 8, community of studies)

Disagreements over the political choices

determined by voters indicate a tendency to increase

radical understanding for society. An expert

informant states the following.

"At any time of the elections, always religious

issues become very radical or increased. Everyday

voters are faced with a religious and ethnic base in

determining options. Most of the time, each

candidate always displays the identity side to his

or her selection rather than an idea and idea offer.

Not a few voters are affected very quickly from

the intake of identity issues that.” (Informant 9,

academics).

4.3 Political Trust

Informants who have beliefs or influenced radical

thinking tend to appear to have risen in number

ahead of elections, as presented below.

"Initially I didn't care about the elections or the

presidential election. I was invited by a friend to

study. There i heard Ustad lecture and my friends

convey that I should care about the people by the

election to choose a candidate who has a party to

religion. I continue to join them in every study.”

(Informant 10, the community of studies).

Does Radical Political Orientation Lead to Political Distrust in the Public Election of 2019 in Medan?

Election events become media or means to

disseminate a reason for disagreeing with a ruler or

group that plays a very dominant role in the

Government Mistrust is conveyed by the following

informant.

"Political parties who are now in power, are often

troubled by small communities. Difficult to get

treatment, school costs are also expensive, there

should be expenditure on textbooks, there should

be expenditure for tutoring. Meanwhile, the job

field is difficult, opening a business is also a lot of

unofficial costs. Then do not vote the ruling

political party.” (Informant 2, figure of the Islamic

community.

Other informant convey a different opinion. In

his view, the political parties who won the elections

should be given the opportunity in a certain time

implementing the program.

"Today, the Government has provided health

assistance to the poor. We know not all poor

people who can be free to take medication. Many

of the vehicles also, that is because of the behavior

of the health centers and hospitals that are lazy to

provide community service. So, the fault is not

only in the political parties of the ruler, but the

person must also be seen. We must not judge the

whole person, wrong clay.” (Informant 5, figure of

the Islamic community)

An informant of the study group expressed the

following statement.

"I still believe in the government and the winners

of the elections then because they have worked to

provide community service. There must be less in

providing services, but it does not mean that we as

citizens have to protest loudly with the radical way

of making identities to attack them (Informant 8,

the community of studies).

Some informant express his attitude in view and

give his political choices during elections.

"Three years ago and during the last election, I

gave the choice to one of the winning parties. But,

I also don't get anything after they win. I wanted to

find a job, it was very difficult. People close to me

told me if I was wrong to select. So I redirect

support to other political parties who nominate

another president.” (Informant 6, figure of the

Islamic community)

“There are many reasons I moved support from

ago. I see and feel after discussions with friends,

they are not defending Muslims. Already know

there are religious taking but still also chosen to be

supported. I do not understand, but it can destroy

their credibility including the (informant 3, figure

of the Islamic community

“I change my choice because I see the political

parties of that ruler conspiring to support certain

people who benefit them. Not for the sake of

people. I'm just sure they must be one moment,

who chooses it will regret it. So I am a member of

my members to choose candidates who are in the

interest of Muslims ' interests.” (Informant 7,

figure of the Islamic community).

5 DISCUSSION

The findings of the informant indicate that two

groups of political orientation are voters with

extreme or radical and moderate beliefs. The radical-

flowing voter mentions his disappointment with the

treatment of the ruling group or that the ruling does

not conform to his expectations and beliefs. The so-

called radical-oriented group of voters tend to put

political distrust to the ruler and will always look for

different alternatives. The radical understanding that

arises is due to feelings of disappointment with the

daily conditions associated in their belief bases. A

simple solution is to provide political support to the

parties who offer the difference and are willing to

accommodate the wishes they believe. Thus, the

action of intolerance becomes very possible done to

those different political beliefs.

The same truths based on certain beliefs are only

sourced from internal or group themselves.

Discourse discusses the ideas and ideas of solutions

to specific problems that are very complex tend to be

avoided. Radical-oriented voters are only interested

in discussing the uniform idea of their circles.

Dissatisfaction with the ruling political leader

became the hallmark of the radical voter group. The

radical orientation grouping is very possible to form

through the identification of options ahead of the

2019 simultaneous elections in Medan city. As the

findings of the key informant statement explaining

that they do not believe the pledge of the presidential

candidate even though the prospective deputy is a

scholar. Similarly, the political party supporting the

presidential candidate was not selected in the 2019

simultaneous elections in Medan city. They

campaigned to give an influence to the

congregation's Network (ummah) to keep it

consistent with his beliefs.

The research findings affirm the similarity of the

theory (Fernbach et al., 2013; van Prooijen &

Krouwel, 2018) which explains about political

support will be given extreme voters only to

candidates who have the same beliefs. The tendency

of intolerance is seen when a radical-oriented group

rejects all material conveyed by a political party

incorporated in the supporting coalition of the

incumbent presidential candidate. The intolerance is

to reject any disagreements and avoid other

community groups of different beliefs in the daily

ICOSOP 3 2019 - International Conference on Social Political Development (ICOSOP) 3

Association. The radical group assessment considers

the presidential candidate to be weak because the

decision is always influenced by certain religious

interests through the figure in the power circle. The

importance of the influential figure, always

weakened the struggle of the Islamic Group

(Midlarsky, 2011). The findings proved that weak

leadership led to an uncertainty that was identified

by radical-oriented groups (Hogg, Meehan, &

Farquharson, 2010).

While the moderate selector is the view that the

ruler still provides the best service for the

community regardless of the shortage. Moderate

groups strongly believe that changes are very

difficult to do quickly due to limitations. Harmony

in social relationships becomes very important to

maintain the individual's safety in managing their

lives. The belief given by moderate voters to the

ruling political party is based on the rationality of

changes even if it is not yet able to solve community

issues. Alignments to the ruling party coalition are

based on a belief in a safe situation to coexist. Still

provide the opportunity to the ruler because the

moderate group feels that it has benefited a certain

day of life.

Based on the findings of the informant

explanation, the moderate selector considers the

radical-oriented group to be disorientated due to its

own belief. Every human being has the right to

choose according to his belief even though it is

different. But that distinction is not a reason for

spreading anxiety and fear. Moderate voters are

more likely to see ideas and ideas as well as

evidence that provides benefits to individuals and

communities, not because of the similarity of

identity. The truth is not derived from its own beliefs

to be the principle in maintaining tolerance for

moderate voters (Toner, Leary, Asher and Jongman-

Sereno, 2013). Moderate voters avoid opposition

"we versus them", because each individual has a

different view that should be respected.

The group of voters in the city of Medan that

split into two groups, namely radical and moderate

oriented was seen during the implementation of the

general election year 2019. The response given by

radical-oriented voters is choosing a coalition of

government opponents' parties. Their position

provides support to the fair and prosperous coalition

because it relates to the dissatisfaction of the policy

decided by the Indonesian Government or coalition

forward. The evaluation was conducted through a

general electoral mechanism and not an action that

could reduce democracy at the local level. A very

strong radical-oriented group spreads political

distrust to support the opposition or opposing

government coalition. The findings confirm previous

research (Zmerli, Newton, & Montero, 2007;

Hardin, 1996; Misztal, 1996; Hetherington, 1999;

Luks & Citrin, 1997; Bianco, 1994).

The presence of voters in the city of Medan

during the general election of 2019 was increased

(see Diagram 1) and took place peacefully, although

the process of spreading ideas and ideas is not the

basis of the decisive choice. Political mistrust is

transmitted through the electoral mechanisms not by

violent means or through street protests. The

findings did not confirm previous research (Muller,

1977; Muller, Jukam and Seligson, 1982; Pierce and

Converse, 1989; Abravanel and Busch, 1975; Citrin,

1977).

Results of the 2019 elections in the city of

Medan showed that radical-oriented voters got more

support than moderate voters. The Indonesian

coalition for advanced who supported the

presidential candidate in the state of Indonesia (01)

received a vote of 542,221 (45.6%). Indonesian

coalition of fair and Prosperous Prabowo-Sandi (02)

received votes

About 645,209 (54.4%). The 8.8% sound

difference is assumed to come from the radical-

oriented voters in Medan city. Political beliefs

appear relatively unexpectedly especially ahead of

the presidential elections with religious identity-clad

issues. The study found a more specific

manifestation of the false political belief that the

sentiment on anti-Islam was related to radical and

moderate political opinions during the general

elections. The protest action is channeled by radical-

oriented voters through elections, not by way of

street action.

6 CONCLUSION

The emergence of radical-oriented voters tends to

increase during the 2019 general elections in Medan.

The fundamental basis is that there is an institutional

distrust regarding the issue of religious-clad identity

in the context of voters' dissatisfaction at

government policy. The radical-oriented selector has

the preference of its choice to a coalition of political

parties who do not nominate an incumbent president

and propagate influence to networking in its

community environment. While moderate voters, in

numbers not as much as radical-oriented voters, still

give political confidence to the coalition of political

parties that nominate the presidential presidency.

Although the competition was quite loud, voters

Does Radical Political Orientation Lead to Political Distrust in the Public Election of 2019 in Medan?

continued to use a democratic way of being present

during the vote.

We argue that the emergence of a radical

selector expresses negative emotions about elections

and political parties rather than the politically

moderate informer. Also, the Islamist voters had a

less-than-like radical attitude toward candidates who

came from the ruling party coalition rather than

moderate voters. This suggests that political

radicalism is negatively associated with political

belief, regardless of the ideology it believes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper is the result of research funded by the

TALENTA SCHEME of Universitas Sumatera

Utara.

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Does Radical Political Orientation Lead to Political Distrust in the Public Election of 2019 in Medan?