After running an incredibly divisive political campaign tinged with appeals to race and religion, as well as courting hardliners like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in his effort to unseat former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, many hoped that newly elected governor Anies Baswedan’s would be able to move on after his victory and work to unify Jakarta and its citizens.
But after Anies’ and Sandiaga Uno’s inauguration at City Hall yesterday, the talk of the town — and indeed, the country — is not about the pair’s programs to serve Jakarta. Rather, all the attention and a considerable amount of scorn has been directed at Anies’ incredibly contentious inauguration speech.
Though Indonesia has been a sovereign nation for more than seven decades, Anies harkened back to the days of Dutch colonialism during his speech, ostensibly as an appeal to patriotism but one that was seen by many as a thinly veiled attempt to appeal to racist sentiment.
“Jakarta is one of the few places in Indonesia that felt the presence of colonialists in our daily lives for centuries,” Anies said during his speech as quoted by Detik.
“In those days us pribumi (a term that could be loosely defined as “native Indonesians”) were oppressed and defeated. Now that we’re sovereign, it’s time for us to be masters of our own nation.
“Don’t let Jakarta be like that Maduran saying: ‘The duck lays the eggs but the chickens hatch them.’”
Anies’ speech dashed the hopes of many who were willing to withhold judgement on whether or not he would be capable of uniting Jakartans as he promised during his campaign.
https://twitter.com/falla_adinda/status/919942199462133760
Trump Inauguration Speech: “America First”
Anies Inauguration Speech: “Pribumi ( Native Indonesian) First”
They both have same hand gesture. pic.twitter.com/IxncMugMig— Ericssen (@EricssenWen) October 16, 2017
Some also pointed out that Anies, ironically, is not even pribumi as his descendants came from the Middle East (his grandfather, renowned politician AR Baswedan, chaired the Arab-Indonesian Association).
MAKE PRIBUMI GREAT AGAIN! – said a non-pribumi.
— Wat Sian | Cuntivist (@absolutia) October 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/koolkitten07/status/920152812788387840
Others saw Anies speech as another attack on his political rivals, including his predecessor Ahok.
That political speech is staged. The word pribumi was intended clearly to keep the hatred to one specific man, fearing he might return later
— katanya (@jessehh) October 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/mataketiga_/status/919973475879546880
Some pointed out that Anies’ speech violated a presidential edict from 1998 disallowing the use of the term pribumi when referring to Indonesians in political communication.
In 1998, Habibie issued president’s instruction: stop using terms “pribumi” and “non-pribumi” in policies & government pic.twitter.com/e9d0lwHL0V
— Yenni Kwok (@yennikwok) October 17, 2017
