Political Polarization in the 2018 North Sumatera Governor Election

Campaign

Walid Musthafa Sembiring

, Subhilhar, Heri Kusmanto

and Hatta Ridho

Doctoral Program of Development Studies, Faculty of Social Science and Political Science,

Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Prof. Dr. A. Sofyan No. 1 Kampus USU, Medan, Indonesia

Keywords: Political Polarization, Regional Head Elections, Political Campaigns

Abstract: In 2018, simultaneous regional head elections were held in 171 regions consisting of 17 provinces, 39 cities,

and 115 regencies. North Sumatra Province is one of the regions that carry out elections. As the region with

the fourth largest population in Indonesia, North Sumatra Province is one of the areas that gets the spotlight.

Mainly because there were only two pairs of candidates who passed verification at the General Elections

Commission, namely the Edy Rahmayadi-Musa Rajekshah pair and the Djarot Saiful Hidayat-Sihar Sitorus

pair. In the campaign process, there is polarization in the main voters related to the sentiments of each

candidate who is fighting. The purpose of this study is to analyze how political polarization is in the 2018

North Sumatra governor election campaign. This research is qualitative research with a constructivist

paradigm. The results of this study indicate the causes of polarization, a strong polarization between each

supporter of the candidate pair and the division of public opinion on social media.

1 INTRODUCTION

Political polarization has become a phenomenon that

has strengthened in the last decade in Indonesia. The

presidential election between the Joko Widodo-Jusuf

Kalla pair against the Prabowo Subianto and Hatta

Rarajasa pairs in 2014 became the main trigger. The

presidential election with two pairs of candidates

made the supporters' votes split to build a

demarcation line. According to Wilson (2014)

Polarization is a popular phenomenon that is more

developed at the mass level than at the level of the

political elite. explains that polarization occurs

because of a strong commitment to a culture, ideology

or candidate so that it divides one group from another

(Groshek, Jacob & Michalska, 2017). Polarization

makes a group think its views are the most correct,

while the opposite group is a group that has the wrong

political and moral views (Mason, 2015).

This situation continued in the DKI Jakarta

Provincial Election campaign, at that time there were

three pairs of candidates competing, namely the pair

Agus Harimurti Yudghoyono and Sylviana Murni,

the incumbent pair Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4419-5626

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1370-7876

Djarot Saiful Hidayat and the pair Anies Baswedan

and Sandiaga Uno. In the days prior to the incumbent

campaign, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama mentioned the

verse Al Maidah 51 in the Koran which made him a

convict of blasphemy. The couple Anies Baswedan

and Sandiaga Uno finally won the 2017 DKI Jakarta

provincial head election.

After losing in DKI Jakarta, Djarot Saiful Hidayat

ran again in the simultaneous regional head elections

in 171 regions consisting of 17 provinces, 39 cities

and 115 regencies. As for Djarot Saiful Hidayat, who

was identified as being close to Basuki Tjahaja

Purnama, negative sentiments about Djarot Saiful

Hidayat's presence in North Sumatra received verbal

rejection from Muslim voters (Xue, 2018). Moreover,

Djarot Saiful Hidayat is paired with a Christian

candidate, namely Sihar Sitorus, which further

strengthens religious sentiment in the 2018 North

Sumatra gubernatorial election.

At that time there were two pairs who passed the

candidate verification at the General Elections

Commission, namely the Edy Rahmayadi-Musa

Rajeckshah pair and the Djarot Saiful Hidayat-Sihar

Sitorus pair. The election for the Governor of North

156

Sembiring, W., Subhilhar, ., Kusmanto, H. and Ridho, H.

Political Polarization in the 2018 North Sumatera Governor Election Campaign.

DOI: 10.5220/0011563000003460

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Social and Political Development (ICOSOP 2022) - Human Security and Agile Government, pages 156-160

ISBN: 978-989-758-618-7; ISSN: 2975-8300

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Sumatra became politically interesting because it was

only followed by two pairs of candidates and were

national figures from different institutions (Wanasari,

2019).

Edy Rahmayadi is one of the sons of the North

Sumatra region who before the election was an active

TNI with the rank of Lieutenant General and

occupied a strategic position in the TNI as

Commander of the Army Strategic Command

(Pangkostrad). Edy Rahmayadi's partner is a young

North Sumatran entrepreneur who is also widely

known through the many institutions and

organizations he is involved in, namely Musa

Rajekshah.

This pair took the tagline ERAMAS with the

vision of North Sumatra with dignity. While the pair

of competitors is Djarot Syaiful Hidayat paired with

Sihar Sitorus (DJOSS). Djarot is a national figure

cadre of the PDI Perjuangan and previously was

Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta paired with Basuki

Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), and later also served as

Governor of DKI Jakarta replacing Ahok who was

convicted of blasphemy against Islam. Meanwhile,

his partner, Sihar Sitorus, is a PDI Perjuangan cadre

who is also a big businessman from North Sumatra.

During his campaign, there was a sentiment that

Edy Rahmayadi was negatively identified by DJOSS

supporters as arrogant and temperamental. This is

reinforced by the circulation of a video of Edy

Rahmayadi arguing with one of the farmers in

Ramunia Village, Deli Serdang District on social

media while Musa Rajeckshah received a negative

sentiment, namely being portrayed as a figure close to

the 212 group which was perceived by DJOSS

supporters as an intolerant group. The symbolic battle

between each of the supporters of the candidate pair

for governor and deputy governor in North Sumatra

strengthened at all levels of social groups. This

polarization can be seen implicitly within the same

social group, namely Islamic political groups and

moderate groups.

In the event of the election campaign in North

Sumatra, some of the affected voters were patterned

into two opposing camps and had no common ground.

They are opposite according to the pattern of support

for each candidate pair. At this point, Muslim voters

tend to support the ERAMAS pair, while moderate

groups tend to choose the DJOSS pair. The support

pattern on the surface follows moderate vs

conservative cleavage.

Where moderate groups tend to support Djarot

while conservative groups tend to support Edi

Rahmayadi. This is clearly seen on the surface with

strong polarization, where social reality is very

complex. The research entitled "Political Polarization

in the 2018 North Sumatra Governor Election

Campaign" would like to describe what causes

polarization, how polarization occurs and what are

the impacts of political polarization.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

This article is research with qualitative research

methods with descriptive analysis analysis with a

constructivist paradigm (Moleong, 2006). The use of

this method is intended for researchers to be able to

focus on phenomena that occur in problems or

phenomena that are actual at the time the research is

carried out, then describe the facts about the problem

being investigated as they are accompanied by

rational and accurate interpretations. This method

will help researchers to understand the reality that

occurs related to the polarization that occurred in the

political campaign in the regional head election of

North Sumatra Province in 2018. Then the primary

data of this research was obtained by the authors from

journals, books and documents or reports related to

the research focus. The author then analyzes case

phenomena inductively regarding the causes of

polarization, polarization conditions and the impact

of political polarization on regional head elections in

North Sumatra Province in 2018.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Causes of Polarization in the 2018

North Sumatra Regional Head

Election

In a broad understanding, political polarization is

often linked to the context of ideology and religion.

Although there are several understandings related to

political polarization, polarization is often shown

through differences of opinion, attitudes, or

placement on a certain ideological axis of the

respective communities involved in it. In particular,

political polarization is divided into two levels,

namely elite political polarization and mass political

polarization. Elite polarization refers to the division

that occurs between political parties within the

government and political parties outside the

government. Then mass polarization refers to a

condition where the attitudes of voters/society

towards political issues, figures, and other citizens are

openly divided.

Political Polarization in the 2018 North Sumatera Governor Election Campaign

157

In the context of the 2018 election of the Governor

and Deputy Governor of North Sumatra Province, the

polarization that occurs is mass polarization. The

reason for the split that occurred involved the attitude

of voters towards political issues, the candidate's

character and the candidate's religious issues which

became the trigger for the split in political attitudes.

During the election campaign for the Governor of

North Sumatra, the candidate pair Edy Rahmayadi-

Musa Rajeckshah carried the campaign tagline:

"North Sumatra with dignity" and came with a vision

and mission that prioritized community programs as

a trigger for their campaign to gain sympathy from

Islamic groups. Not only that, the discourse of this

pair being the son of the region was highlighted as a

demarcation line with competitors who came from

outside North Sumatra.

Meanwhile, the candidate pair Djarot Saiful

Hidayat-Sihar Sitorus came with the campaign

tagline: “All Affairs are Easy and Transparent” which

emphasized the importance of a clean and

professional bureaucracy in its vision and mission.

Furthermore, the North Sumatra Smart Card , the

Healthy North Sumatra Card and the Prosperous

Family North Sumatra Card became the mainstay of

the campaign for the Djarot Saiful Hidayat-Sihar

Sitorus pair in overcoming strategic problems in

North Sumatra.

This empirical fact is also the main reason for the

2018 gubernatorial election battle that cannot be

separated from Islamic issues during the campaign.

Moreover, Djarot Siful Hidayat's partner, Sihar

Sitorus, is a Christian candidate, making the

fragmentation of Muslim voters even more extreme.

This situation then has an impact on voters in the East

Coast regions, which are the basis for the largest

Islamic Permanent Voters List (DPT) in North

Sumatra, which demographically amounts to 65

percent. As; Medan City, Deli Serdang Regency,

Langkat Regency, Serdang Bedagai Regency,

Asahan Regency and Batubara Regency.

3.2 Political Polarization in Campaign

The battle that linked religious and regional issues in

the 2018 North Sumatra gubernatorial election was

very strong, especially on social media such as;

Facebook, Twitter, Path, Youtube, WhatsApps,

Instagram with features like, share-feed, tweet-

retweet, upload-download, path-repath, selfie-

regram, post-repost. Click activism on social media

during the 2018 North Sumatra gubernatorial election

shows a portrait of the people of North Sumatra in 2

conditions. First, social media users who access and

share information functionally, are more

knowledgeable, more empowered, and have

opportunities in many ways thanks to communication

information technology related to religious issues

(Hadiz & Teik, 2011).

Second, those who are technologically stuttering,

only follow trends, become easy targets for the

technology market, mainly related to politics and

continue to struggle with impact stories about

choosing non-Muslim leaders. According to data

released by the Indonesian Internet Service Providers

Association (APJII) in 2018, which states that the

largest contribution of internet users in Indonesia

remains Java Island, which is 55.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Sumatra Island is 21.6 percent, and the

area of Eastern Indonesia is 10.9 percent. Specifically

for North Sumatra Province, the highest percentage

was on the island of Sumatra, namely 6.3 percent.

Around 10.5 million people have experienced the

internet in North Sumatra which has an impact on all

things, especially those related to politics and

elections, which are discussed via the internet,

namely social media (APJII, 2018).

Discourses embodying political religion

empirically do not only occur in determining the state

constitution or in determining the paradigm of the

relationship between religion and the state in a

secularistic, integralistic and symbiotic context in

social media. However, in the study of contemporary

Islamic politics, religious and political discourse is

more in the context of the issue of primordialism that

occurs in every political interest (Strandberg, 2014).

The issue of primodialism in the form of religion in

politics is only an attempt to manipulate religious

understanding or knowledge. Then from this

understanding it is expressed in the form of

propaganda, indoctrination, campaigns and

socialization to form understanding as religious

teachings or forms of ethnic values (Strandberg,

2011.

The strengthening of religion issues in the public

sphere cannot be separated from the pressure to

influence religious and ethnic consensus. The

influence of the consensus is an effort to incorporate

the fanatical interests of primordialism into the

political agenda in order to influence people's

opinions and conceptions (Supriyadi, 2018).

Furthermore, Djarot is a former deputy governor

of DKI Jakarta who later paired with Asuki Tjahaya

Purnama (Ahok) in the 2016 DKI Jakarta

gubernatorial election. This situation has

automatically had a lot of impact or influence on the

people of North Sumatra. How about the 212 peaceful

demonstration that raised the issue of Islam and hate

ICOSOP 2022 - International Conference on Social and Political Development 4

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speech, which in the end wanted Ahok to lose in the

DKI Jakarta Pilkada because they were considered to

have insulted the Qur'an. This means that Djarot's

presence in North Sumatra as a person who had

formed a coalition with Ahok made it easy for some

people to take advantage of and spread religious

issues.

Team Edi Rahmayadi and Musa Rajeckshah also

used this situation in their campaign strategy.

Utilizing the issue of religious identity which is still

warm and still embedded in the public's memory.

Take advantage of the 212 moment that just happened

and learn from Anis-Sandi's victory in the DKI

Jakarta Pilkada. Meanwhile, the Djarot Saiful

Hidayat-Sihar Sitorus pair also played with religious

issues combined with ethnicity issues. Especially

when the United Development Party (PPP) politician

Muzakir Ridha said that the Javanese Bataks must

unite, don't want to lose to the soldiers during the

grand campaign of the DJOSS pair in Deli Serdang

Regency, North Sumatra Province.

3.3 Polarization Impact

The polarization of society in elections always has an

impact after the election. Aspinall (2014) explains

that democracy in Indonesia has recorded a number

of shortcomings in each of its implementations.

However, a significant positive achievement must be

explored further. Among the most populous

provinces in Indonesia, North Sumatra Province is an

area that is able to build a new democratic system

since the wave of direct regional head elections was

held. This certainly makes North Sumatra a mature

democratic region in Indonesia.

At this point, the author strongly believes from

each finding that the condition of political

polarization in the political campaign for the regional

head election in North Sumatra is very clearly visible,

interestingly, although the polarization during the

campaign was very strong, it did not reduce the spirit

of diversity and tolerance post-election. Even though

at the time of the campaign the potential for

polarization was clear. However, the public easily

saw the two pairs of candidates as the best leaders in

North Sumatra.

The reconciliation process becomes very

important after the election, the reason is that the

support of voters who previously quickly formed in

opposing positions, but after the election it has not

been seen directly what the supporters of each

candidate pair fear. In fact, during the campaign

period, each candidate pair's supporters talked about

their fears if the opposing pair was elected.

Although the political polarization that occurred

in the 2018 North Sumatra gubernatorial election still

has a strong impression that it affects the voters'

perspective on politics, this kind of polarization must

be minimized, one of which is the number of pairs of

candidates at the time of the election is more than two

pairs of candidates in the future. This means that the

perspective in viewing political campaigns, both on

policy and identity issues, is highly biased by the

sentiment of political polarization. If the political

polarization gets bigger or stronger, it is very

worrying that the campaign in the upcoming North

Sumatra gubernatorial election will actually be

distracted by the negative sentiment that builds up,

which in the end will harm the community.

At the same time, of course, the buzzer networks

of the two groups during political campaigns should

not have a tendency to amplify negative sentiments

(Lim, 2014), rather than create a productive discourse

in that development. Due to the fact that in campaign

conditions, the issue of political and religious

polarization is still the dominant commodity to spread

hatred (Nastiti & Ratri, 2018). Because it would be

very ironic if these hate groups were more dominant

than critical and rational groups who tried to remind

the public interest in the upcoming North Sumatra

gubernatorial election.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Political polarization became one of the main

problems in the 2018 election for governor and

deputy governor of North Sumatra Province. The split

in the public's attitude in viewing candidates and

spreading issues on social media is a part that

strengthens the polarization. In fact, the media, both

conventional and new media, must be portrayed as an

ideal means and information base to find out public

opinion about policies and political positions, in

addition to building community support for

politicians who are campaigning. The ability to create

a space for dialogue between politicians and the

public as well as attracting the interest of novice

voters/young voters makes social media increasingly

important for politicians to attract the hearts of the

main voters related to the issue of primordialism.

However, the game of religious symbols and

regional issues in building polarization cannot be

separated from the hope of gaining support from a

specific mass base in the 2018 North Sumatra

gubernatorial election. The construction of these

symbols was deliberately presented by the campaign

team to inspire potential voters with the pride and

Political Polarization in the 2018 North Sumatera Governor Election Campaign

159

fanaticism of religion, ethnicity and race. Aspects of

identity politics continue to play, although to a

relatively small degree. However, the lesson we can

take is that the polarization in cyberspace at the time

of political contestation is also not a matter of fighting

right and wrong but how to present politics that builds

togetherness as citizens.

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