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  • A Fork in the Road for Aceh

    Banda Aceh — Western diplomats worry about Islamic extremism in Aceh, a province in Indonesia on the northern tip of Sumatra. Aceh could prove vulnerable to Islamists unless commitments in the 2005 peace agreement between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are fulfilled. Delivering a peace dividend will keep Aceh on the path of moderation.

    Aceh has suffered. Tens of thousands died during Aceh’s 40 year war for independence. Another 200,000 perished when a tsunami swept through Aceh on December 26, 2004.

    The tsunami catalyzed negotiations, which culminated in the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The accord established power sharing between Jakarta and Aceh’s provincial government.

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  • Inspirasi dari Seorang Jokowi

    Kendati fenomena marketing politik di Indonesia masih relatif baru, perkembangannya sendiri mengalami lompatan kemajuan yang luar biasa. Tengok saja Pemilihan Umum Presiden dan Wakil Presiden 2014 yang dimenangkan oleh pasangan Joko Widodo dan Jusuf Kalla. Penerapan marketing politik, mulai dari penyusunan isu politik, rancangan tema kampanye, memasang iklan, menyewa konsultan politik, hingga membuat strategi pemenangan kampanye baik di media online maupun offline, telah dilakukan secara sistematis oleh Jokowi dan timnya.

    Keberhasilan Jokowi membangun positioning dan personal branding sebagai simbol kerakyatan, dan kesederhanaan melalui sikap alaminya yang rendah hati, ramah dan suka bergaul, membuat ia disukai oleh masyarakat dan memiliki diferensiasi yang kuat dibandingkan dengan capres ataupun tokoh-tokoh lain.

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  • Saat Laman Negara Digunakan Pemerintah Jokowi untuk ‘Sindir’ SBY

    Laman Setkab

    Pasal pertama: Pemimpin tak boleh dikritik.
    Pasal kedua: Pemimpin tak pernah salah.
    Pasal ketiga: Jika pemimpin salah maka harus kembali ke pasal pertama dan kedua.

    Pasal di atas tentu bukanlah aturan hukum resmi di Indonesia. Tapi saya berpandangan, prinsip seperti itu banyak diadopsi oleh para fan boy dari pemimpin politik di negeri ini.  Jadi apapun kritik langsung dilabeli haters. Apapun berita yang nyata-nyata tidak menguntungkan jagonya, langsung dibilang nyinyir.

    Ya, itulah fakta yang terbentang di perpolitikan Indonesia saat ini. Memang tak bisa dipungkiri bahwa Pilpres 2014 telah meninggalkan banyak bekas di hati masyarakat Indonesia. Ada yang terlalu kecewa, ada pula yang terlalu gembira.

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  • From campus to Red-and-White Coalition

    What does it mean to be an “Islamist” after the 2014 general election, which put Islamic-based political parties, primarily the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), in the opposition camp in the current political constellation?

    Several months ago, from a discussion held by several Islamic student activists in Yogyakarta, I came away with the impression that “political Islam” should be transformed, not only on the basis of morality, as their predecessors did in the 1990s, but also to attain the political power that they are obsessed with nowadays.

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  • The new era of Shopping for Votes:Susan Delacourt explains how politicians choose us and we choose them

    Image Credits: Douglas & McIntyre

    Are you a Tim Hortons voter or a Starbucks voter? Are you a Dougie, or a Jane, or a Zoe? Whether you have the answer or not, the nation’s major political parties are hard at work trying to place you into one of their micro-targeted categories of the voting market. Susan Delacourt is a senior political writer at the Toronto Star, and in Shopping for Votes she outlines the way marketing and consumerism has pervaded Canada’s political landscape.

    When did ‘citizens’ get reduced to ‘taxpayers,’ and when did voting start to be seen as less of a civic duty and more of a consumer choice? As Canadians became 24/7 consumers, we began to demand similar things of our government as we do from businesses. Politics is no longer viewed as a public service where elected officials work to improve the overall well-being of society, but a business in which there are clearly defined deliverables and the target market is people who will potentially vote for you.

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  • Denny JA: Belum 100 hari, Jokowi Sudah ‘Blunder’ Empat Kali

    REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Pendiri Lembaga Survey Indonesia, Denny Januar Ali, berkicau soal ‘blunder Presiden Jokowi’. Melalui akun twitternya, @DennyJA_WORLD, ia menyoroti beberapa tindakan dan keputusan presiden, termasuk pemilihan jaksa agung dari partai politik.

    Berikut isi kultwitnya: 1) Ada apa dengan Jokowi? Belum 100 hari pemerintahannya, ia sudah membuat empat blunder.
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  • Can you sell a politician like a product?

    JOE MCGINNISS, who died early this year, wrote his classic book The Selling of the President (1968) on the Richard Nixon presidential campaign of 1967. The book laid the foundation for the now routine use of Madison Avenue advertising techniques in packaging and selling politicians. In that book, the author tracks the re-launching of a previously defeated candidate for President two elections earlier in 1959 as a revitalized brand, the “New Nixon.” This tradition of selling politicians like regular soft drinks with taglines and promo periods has become part of electoral exercises.

    The use of marketing strategies formerly associated with selling soap (it is the soap companies that use heavy advertising after all) has been more openly embraced by politicians and their handlers since its acknowledged effectiveness in the 1967 presidential campaign between Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. These advertising techniques are now employed not just by politicians but by advocacies like building homes for the poor, donating an hour’s wages to children, or turning off electricity for Earth Hour. Good advertising works for products, causes, as well as candidates.

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  • Prof. Irwan Abdullah: Political Will Orang Aceh untuk Bersatu Masih Kurang

    Dosen Jurusan Antrpologi Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Universitas Gadjah Mada Prof. Dr. Irwan Abdullah mengungkapkan bahwa Aceh mengalami permasalahan identitas, Jumat (17/10/14).

    “Identitas keagamaan orang Aceh kuat sekali, tapi sudah mulai bergeser,” katanya pada seminar pendidikan Islam yang bertemakan Dialog, Perdamaian dan Resolusi Konflik di Hotel Hermes Palace Banda Aceh.
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  • Pengamat Nilai Saling Klaim Kemenangan Bukti Tidak Percaya Lembaga Negara

    Pengamat politik dari Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) Siti Zuhro
    KOMPAS.com/Indra Akuntono

    JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Pengamat politik Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) Siti Zuhro menyayangkan dua pasang capres cawapres saling mengklaim kemenangan di dalam Pilpres 2014. Hal itu bisa membuat rakyat gamang.

    “Tidak seharusnya dua kandidat saling klaim kemenangan,” ujar Siti kepada Kompas.com pada Kamis (10/7/2014) siang. (more…)

  • “Quick Count”, Ini Hasil Lengkap 11 Lembaga Survei

    Prabowo-Hatta (kiri) dan Jokowi-JK (kanan) Kompas.com

    JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — Tujuh dari 11 lembaga survei yang melakukan hitung cepat atau quick count dalam Pemilu Presiden 2014 menyebut pasangan Joko Widodo dan Jusuf Kalla sebagai pemenang pemungutan suara.

    Sebaliknya, empat lembaga survei lain mendapatkan pasangan Prabowo Subianto dan Hatta Rajasa sebagai pemenang.

    Tujuh lembaga survei itu adalah Litbang Kompas, Lingkaran Survei Indonesia, Indikator Politik Indonesia, Populi Center, CSIS, Radio Republik Indonesia, dan Saiful Mujani Research Center. (more…)