First Gubernatorial Debate, what's your take?

[El_Goretto]

I didn't get to watch the debate (not that I would have understood well what was said) but from what I gather around the internets is that pair 1 performed poorly, pair 2 was excellent and ahok gave some sharp come backs and pair 3 was pretty much doing religious preaching. This all seems unsurprising considering the characters we're dealing with and what's been going on during the campaign.

So I'm curious what our membership's take is on the debate. What did you think?

 

[Anglian]

My wife watched it and was very impressed with Ahok, Yudis son ok but his female partner didn't add much, no 3 team too religious, that doesn't get the problems solved, but we live in Tangerang so no vote for my good lady who is an ardent Ahok supporter

 

[Daniel50]

I don't know the language enough but like Anglian my wife watched. She thought Ahok did the best. She also sees Ahok as the most honest. I also like Ahok and would agree with her assessment.

 

[Davita]

My wife is also an Ahok fan...she has the shirt and scarf to prove it.

We watched, she interpreted, and yelled every time Ahok made a point. I think she's biased but, even though we have an apartment in Jakarta as she isn't an Indonesian citizen anymore....she cannot vote.

She thought that Agus' choice of Sylvi as his vice was a mistake as she seemed ineffective and seemingly had her own agenda.
Anies appeared to preach....he was Minister of Education before but also campaigned at FPI HQ...http://www.smh.com.au/world/jakarta...eting-islamic-hardliners-20170103-gtlasx.html

It is reported that about 20% of the electorate are undecided. Hopefully the debates will firm up the voting so it produces a clear majority.

All in all the best feature from my perspective was the Moderator...she was firm...and pretty.

My wife said there's a joke going round that explains well the differences between the candidates......

"The Moderator asked "What is that we see in the sky when it is raining and is multi-colored?"

Agus (Harvard scholar) replied "It's a reflection from the sea that percolates through the atmosphere and refracts and disperses the sunlight."
Anies (Preacher) preached "It's from Allah...it shows us how powerful is our faith and how we must pray...and he continued preaching for the full 2 minutes."
Ahok (Pragmatic) laughed "It's a rainbow!"

 

[waarmstrong]

Being in the States we did not view the debate, of course. The Jakarta Globe stories on the event pretty clearly tag Ahok as the clear winner, being careful not to seem too overt in their assessment.

It will be interesting to see if the "also ran" teams modify their debate strategies for the two upcoming sessions.

 

[fastpitch17]

They, the media are saying it looks now like Anies is taking a more conservitive approach after his visit with the FPI and addressing a group of hardliner lead voters that support it must be a Muslim Governor. These conservitives were reported to be primarily Agus supporters. What Anies just may do is split this group and all that will do is build up Ahok's chances.

 

[Davita]

Last night I watched Ahok being interviewed on AlJazeera and, imo, he gave an excellent review of himself, his legal situation and his policy if re-elected.
Worth a look if interested...here's a link....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzoWiRF91rQ

 

[Daniel50]

For the 3rd debate it was reported to me that Ahok seemed more relaxed and he was thorough. I sure hope he wins the election.

 

[Anglian]

My wife watched it again, and was again impressed by Ahok, he seemed to have much clearer and positive policies

 

[Daniel50]

Yes I believe one of Sandiaga Uno' plans for helping Jakarta traffic was no cars over some high figure like 2 or 3 billion, on the roads. A man with his finger not on the pulse of the ordinary man.

 

[R Cameron]

Yes I believe one of Sandiaga Uno' plans for helping Jakarta traffic was no cars over some high figure like 2 or 3 billion, on the roads. A man with his finger not on the pulse of the ordinary man.

Actually, I would say this shows his finger on the pulse of the ordinary man, but not on the pulse of reality. He has enabled the common man in blaming rich people for the problems, and for those who can overlook the logical reality of the statement, it will endear him to them. A very populist move, not unlike something Trump would have done on the campaign trail.

 

[Davita]

I watched last night...more like forced to by my tartan shirted, tartan scarf waving wife.

She interpreted while I watched the body language and there was no doubt of Ahok's/Jarot's familiarity with debating and their obvious managerial skill. Classic idea to bring along pictures of all the beautiful parks, etc. that that's been built in the short time Ahok has been Governor.
I just wish he had the ability to show them full-screen...that would make most Jakartans think...excluding the brain-washed but diminishing FPI and their sharia kin.

Even if he wins however, he still has to face these trumped-up blasphemy charges.That will be critical to the future of Indonesia's governance and I'm very worried it may go the wrong way.
The English word 'Amok' is, after all, derived from bahasa Indonesia for a very good reason.

 

[Daniel50]

Actually, I would say this shows his finger on the pulse of the ordinary man, but not on the pulse of reality. He has enabled the common man in blaming rich people for the problems, and for those who can overlook the logical reality of the statement, it will endear him to them. A very populist move, not unlike something Trump would have done on the campaign trail.

Whatever he is doing it doesn't appear to be working all that well.

 

[R Cameron]

Whatever he is doing it doesn't appear to be working all that well.

Perhaps Indonesians have more sense than Americans? I guess we'll see when the vote comes in, the week before everyone thought Trump would lose too.

 

[Davita]

If no clear majority vote for any candidate is found on Wednesday (Election day) there will be a run-off vote between the two leading candidates.
Let's hope, for Jakartans and all of Indonesia, that we get a clear mandate for Ahok, and he can continue with his teams progressive policies.

Clearing the squatter areas and giving them decent housing; dredging the rivers and maintaining flood channels; creating an efficient mass transport system to compete with the single car/motorbike; donating gov't land to open parks and public facilities instead of profit; managing an efficient civil service that is civil and gives service..... are all progressive and sustainable projects.

Handing out money to the poor and going to the mosque more often and pray, while admirable, should not simply buy votes and contradict productivity ....but those appear to be the axioms of the other contenders.

 

[dafluff]

Most of the surveys posted so far (and who knows how far to trust them) have Ahok in the 35-39% range, Anies in the 32-35% range, and Agus in the 19-22% range. This looks like a runoff will be required, which is bad for Ahok, because I don't think very many Agus supporters are crossing to Ahok. The best hope is that Ahok is suffering from Bradley effect and that he breaks 50% on Wednesday.

 

[fastpitch17]

Right now I doubt numbers mean much. I think it is a safe bet that a lot of voters will be intimidated to vote against one person or not vote at all. There will be people out enforce to intimidate voters and even though the police say they can't do so near a voting station, they will do so any way. The FPI is given permission to have people at the voting stations to "monitor" the process. They will also do so in neighborhoods away from the voting places and use their influances anywhere they can to intimidate people. They probably have a lot of plans in place to interfere with the voting process in strong Ahok areas. The police if they do step up and do their jobs will not be equiped to offset these plans. The military personnel will most likely not protect Ahok's voters with two former power hungry generals involved with tge other candidates. They may not vote and can not be publicly political but they have other ways on working politically.

 

[Anglian]

I wonder what right the FPI have to monitor the voting process, they represent nobody but themselves

 

[fastpitch17]

I wonder what right the FPI have to monitor the voting process, they represent nobody but themselves

They say they are there to observe the legal processes of all voters so not to be swayed by any outside force that may disrupt the election process. Otherwise, to intimidate by just being seen at the polls.

 

[centurion]

I have been in North Jakarta yesterday late afternoon in an apartment building, at least 20 brimobs with automatic guns were just deployed in the building and they look more seriously than the regular street police.
Residents said that the brimobs were deployed in most of the apartment buildings in North Jakarta.