Indigenous Peoples Alliance Endorses Joko-Kalla Presidential Ticket

Jakarta Globe, May 23, 2014

Members of the The Alliance of the Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (AMAN)
hold up a signed declaration of support for Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla at the
Ibis Hotel in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Friday, May 23. (JG Photo/Ethan Harfenist)

Jakarta. The Alliance of the Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (AMAN) on Friday officially announced that it would back Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla for the country’s top posts, marking the first time the organization had formally supported any presidential candidates.

“Joko is the only candidate who has no controversies with indigenous peoples,” said Abdon Nababan, AMAN’s deputy secretary general, at the Ibis Hotel in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

Several regional members of the alliance met for the event, dressed in full tribal regalia and singing traditional songs to mark the occasion. Neither Joko nor Kalla were not present, but People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) head and senior campaign strategist Sidharto Danusubroto stood in.

AMAN’s deputy for institutional development Mina Setra explained that AMAN had carefully mulled over each of the choices for the presidency this year before deciding to support Joko.

“We have a process to deal with this,” she said. “We have an AMAN team conducting analysis and assessments of all the presidential candidates, even when they weren’t official yet.”

But on May 2, AMAN formally met with Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle DI-P) candidate Joko Widodo to discuss the possibility of an endorsement. By then, the wheels were already turning on the partnership.

The tipping point for AMAN, though, was when Joko adopted the alliance’s platform into his own: Joko has pledged to push for the 2011 bill on the Recognition and Protection of Indigenous Peoples, a bill that was originally drafted by AMAN and given to Joko’s party, as well as implement last year’s landmark ruling on Indonesia’s Forestry Law, which guarantees the rights of indigenous communities over their customary forests.

“All of our members decided that Joko and Kalla were the best candidates for president and vice president,” Mina added.

Abdon echoed Mina’s sentiment, taking a subtle jab at Joko and Kalla’s rivals for the July 9 contest — Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa.

“We have to choose the better [candidates],” he said. “We came to the conclusion that Joko is the cleanest.”

When asked about Jusuf Kalla’s checkered past, however, Abdon conceded that although his record on AMAN’s issues was not sterling — the former vice president has gained notoriety recently for openly supporting paramilitary group Pancasila Youth (PP) during a scene in 2012′s internationally-acclaimed documentary “The Act of KIlling” — the group’s focus was on the president, not on the vice president.

“For us, Joko is the most important,” he said. “With Jusuf Kalla, of course, there is a record. But, Jusuf Kalla is a man who could bring dialogue to the front. For indigenous peoples right now, what we need is the space to bring dialogue.”

AMAN, an organization that represents 15 million indigenous peoples in over 2,000 of Indonesia’s indigenous communities, has never thrown its support behind any presidential candidate before. The alliance was founded in 1999 to ensure the rights of indigenous peoples and provide a mouthpiece for the country’s often disenfranchised customary communities.