Candra Malik

Kalla Team To Stage ‘Wayang’ For Final Campaign

Solo. The campaign team of Vice President Jusuf Kalla and presidential election running mate Wiranto has come up with a distinctly Javanese approach to attract voters — a shadow puppet play.

The tactic, however, could run foul of the country’s election laws.

RM Kusrahardjo, the deputy speaker of the Solo legislative council and a member of the vice president’s Golkar Party, said on Thursday that Kalla and Wiranto would attend the w ayang k ulit performance in Central Java from 7:30 p.m. on Friday night to 3 a.m. on Saturday morning — three hours past the midnight deadline for the cessation of campaign activities ahead of Wednesday’s election.

He said the performance, “Wisanggeni Kridha,” would tell the story of Bambang Wisanggeni, who takes control of Amarta Kingdom from Prabu Puntodewo, who thinks and acts slowly in relation to national security issues despite a threat from a neighboring kingdom.

The play is a clear reference to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s perceived sluggishness in arriving at decisions, which critics label as indecisiveness but supporters say is considered decision-making.

Kusrahardjo, who said the play was inspired by the Kalla campaign’s tagline “The Faster, The Better,” said he was aware the show would continue past the midnight deadline. “[The deadline] can be dodged with a trick [like this], depending on our shrewdness as politicians.”

He said all campaign materials would be removed at midnight but the show would continue to its conclusion. “Javanese tradition prohibits stopping a wayang kulit show prematurely.”

Kusrahardjo also claimed that the Solo Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) did not have the power to stop the performance.

“Ki Anom Suroto is a prominent puppet master,” he said. “He knows what to say [to the audience]. We’ve told him to stop campaigning after midnight, but if he wants to express his personal viewpoint about who is the suitable leader for this country, it’s up to him. No one can forbid that.”

This viewpoint, however, was news to Sri Sumanta, the head of Panwaslu, who said he had sent a warning letter to the campaign team.

“It’s alright to gather people together to watch wayang kulit. But, precisely at midnight, all campaign attributes must be taken down,” he said, warning that he would personally monitor Ki Anom Suroto’s performance.

“If he is proven to put campaign messages [into the performance], then we will not hesitate to stop the wayang kulit,” Sumanta said.

Musdalifah, the chief of the Pelangi Nusantara Volunteers Team for JK-Win, who is also helping stage the show, said it was a means of promoting the non-Javanese Kalla to the Javanese.

“To be accepted by Javanese, the most suitable way is to hold a wayang kulit show,” she said.

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