Reflection on Indonesian Elections Through the Film Please Vote for Me

“What is democracy?” asked Cheng Cheng, a third-grader in Wuhan, China to his father. In a country where the government has been led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1949, the concept of democracy certainly still sounds foreign. Not only for children who are still innocent, who have no experience at all with democracy, or direct elections, but also adults there still feel far from what the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, called a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Cheng Cheng first heard the word democracy from her teacher, Ms. Zhang, “Unlike before, we will hold a democratic election for class president.” The children who were hearing the word derived from the word demo (people) and Kratos (power or government) could only raise an eyebrow and frown in confusion. It had become a tradition at Cheng Cheng's school for the class president to be appointed directly by the teacher. However, now Ms. Zhang wanted something different, namely, the class president could be elected by each class member through a general election. Whoever was voted the most would be the class president. The purpose of this activity was none other than to introduce the concept of democracy to elementary school students.

Zhang appointed three students in his class to run as class president candidates. They consist of two male students; Cheng Cheng and Luo Lei, and one female student; Xu Xiaofei. Like a real election in a democratic country, these three candidates will compete for approximately two weeks to prove to the other class members that they are worthy of being elected as class president. The three will go through three stages of the election, namely talent show, debate, and keynote speech before finally the general election of class president is held.

The entire process of electing class chairperson in elementary school Evergreen Primary School This was recorded by director Chen Weijun and made into a documentary film entitled Please Vote for Me (2007). This film is unique and fun to watch, besides the adorable faces of the players, this film aims to depict the reality of general elections in a democratic country that has many weaknesses. The weaknesses of the election that this film wants to depict through its main characters, Cheng Cheng, Luo Lei, Xiaofei, and their respective parents. The problems that it wants to show include money politics, women's representation, and black campaigns.

Money Politics

Cheng Cheng, Luo Lei, and Xu Xiaofei's parents were overjoyed when they heard that their children had been selected as class president candidates. This meant that their children were more special compared to other children. Therefore, in this case, it was the parents who were more enthusiastic and obsessed with winning the position of class president. Meanwhile, the children preferred to just follow the wishes and campaign directions of their parents.

Cheng Cheng's mother, who works as a television producer, intensively trains her daughter's singing ability. She asks Cheng Cheng to practice hard, even not allowing Cheng Cheng to sleep before she can reach certain notes. Cheng Cheng is directed to be able to release chi from the bottom of her stomach and is trained to use body gestures when singing. Xiaofei's mother, a school administrator, teaches her daughter's self-confidence who will also sing in front of her friends. Luo Lei's father, who is a policeman, also trains his ability to show his talent in playing the flute.

After the talent show was over, the class was more impressed by Cheng Cheng's performance, then Luo Lei's, and finally Xiaofei's. Although he did not come in last place, the second place made Luo Lei discouraged. Luo Lei was the incumbent. For the past two years, he had been elected by his teacher as class president. Not being re-elected as class president would make him extremely sad. Luo Lei was so sad that he even wanted to resign as a candidate for class president. Seeing his son sad, Luo Lei's father did not just keep quiet and immediately took the attitude of an investor. On purpose, he invited Luo Lei's classmates to go on a trip up monorail so that his son could campaign freely. Luo Lei's father's involvement did not stop there, he also distributed ticket prizes mid autumn festival to all class members when Luo Lei campaigned a few days before the election. The goal was to get Luo Lei's friends to vote for him when the election took place.

What Luo Lei's father did actually also happened in Indonesia. Luo Lei's father is like the capital owners who finance a political candidate's campaign for personal interests, in this case Luo Lei's father's interest is his son's victory. The interests of the capital owners meet the needs of the campaign costs, which then causes the election to no longer be a matter of competing ideas between candidates for the benefit of the people, but a battle between capital owners to secure their respective interests. Next, Luo Lei's father also practiced money politics by distributing festival tickets. This kind of money politics practice is also not new in Indonesia, in fact it is almost always present in every democratic event. In the 2019 Election, the results of a LIPI survey showed that 40 percent of the public received money from election participants but did not consider still voting for the participant. Meanwhile, the other 47 percent admitted to receiving money and considering voting for the person who gave the money (kompas.com).

Representation of Women

Xu Xiaofei is the only female candidate elected in the class president election. The problems that Xiaofei experiences during the election process are almost the same as the problems of female politicians in Indonesia who enter the political arena. The attacks launched are more about identity and personal aspects than competence and abilities. For example, in this film, the opposing party always mocks Xiaofei as a spoiled girl, unable to control her emotions so often crying, and unable to lead well because she is a woman.

The attacks on Xiaofei remind us a little of the various rejections of female leaders that occurred in the 2009 Presidential Election, precisely when Megawati ran as a candidate for President of the Republic of Indonesia. The pattern of attacks on Megawati was almost similar to when people rejected non-Islamic leaders, namely by citing verses from holy books to support their arguments. The issue that developed at that time was that women playing a role in politics and entering the public sphere to become a leader was against nature and contrary to religion. It was difficult to convince the public that women had equal rights with men in all fields, including politics.

Black Campaign

The next issue raised by Cheng Cheng is the black campaign. Cheng Cheng's mother is a television producer, she often directs her child to act like a democratic leader. In fact, Cheng Cheng is very far from the indicators of a democratic leader. From the beginning, Cheng Cheng has stated the real reason for wanting to be class president, which is to be able to command her classmates.

Cheng Cheng's mother asked her son to hide his dictatorial side and portray himself as a democratic leader. She directed her son to give a speech according to the text she had written, which went something like this: "I will be a manager, not a dictator like Luo Lei. I will be fair, equal, and considerate to everyone."

Cheng Cheng's promise was of course just words. In the film, Cheng Cheng often uses cunning ways to defeat his opponents. Cheng Cheng once peeked at Xiaofei's training session, then he asked his campaigner to incite the entire class to shout and disrupt Xiaofei's performance. His strategy succeeded in making Xiaofei cry and fail to perform optimally. Cheng Cheng also incited his classmates by spreading a malicious campaign that Luo Lei would continue to scold them if elected as leader.

I think Cheng Cheng's winning strategy also occurs in Indonesia. There are many candidates who portray themselves as democratic, but use undemocratic methods to win the election. One of them is through black campaigns and fake news. In Indonesia, primordial sentiments based on gender, tribe, religion, region, or ethnicity are often used as a form of evil campaign and fake news to attack other candidates. The feeling of having a better culture than others seems to have been embedded and become a culture for Indonesian society. The 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election was a real example of the politicization of SARA, especially religion, as an easy, cheap, and effective campaign material to win the election. Of course, this not only threatens the implementation of Indonesian democracy, it is also dangerous for Indonesian society which is plural, multicultural, and upholds tolerance for differences in identity.

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