When Religion Trumps Ethnicity: A Regional Election Case Study from Indonesia

Abstract

The authors analyse the 2010 mayoral election in the city of Medan, North Sumatra. Medan is an ethnically and religiously diverse city and the authors treat the elections here as a case study of inter-communal dynamics in local elections in plural regions of Indonesia. The first round of the vote was contested by 10 pairs of candidates and occurred in a climate of cross-ethnic alliance building and appeals that, the authors argue, are typical of broader Indonesian patterns. The second round confronted voters with a choice between a Muslim candidate and an ethnic Chinese candidate who was also a Buddhist. There was a sudden switch in the tone and themes of the contest. A concerted campaign was launched to convince Muslim voters to support the Muslim candidate, with politicians and religious leaders alike suggesting that it was a religious obligation to do so. The campaign proved effective and the Muslim candidate, a member of the province's established political elite, won by a large margin. The article focuses on the campaign teams' strategies, analysing their electoral calculations and the techniques used to appeal to a multi-ethnic constituency. It also considers the role played in the poll by Medan's rich array of ethnic associations. The authors conclude by pointing to lessons of the Medan case for wider patterns of ethnic coalition building in Indonesia. They also describe this election as an example of the ‘identity switching’ that can take place when political actors choose from multiple and overlapping identity categories in changing political contexts.

• ethnicity
• ethnic Chinese
• elections
• Islamic politics
• Medan
• North Sumatra
• local politics

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Edward Aspinall

Author details: Edward Aspinall is a Senior Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU), ACT 0200, Australia. E-mail: [email protected].

Sebastian Dettman

Sebastian Dettman is a student in the Master of Arts in Southeast Asian Studies programme at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. At the time of writing, he was a Research Assistant in the Department of Political and Social Change at ANU.

Eve Warburton

Eve Warburton is a student in the Master of Arts in Human Rights programme at Columbia University. At the time of writing she was also a Research Assistant in the Department of Political and Social Change at ANU.