Little chance of ‘the king of dangdut ’ becoming Indonesian President

In spite of possible support from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP), it will be a steep climb for the self-styled king of dangdut Rhoma Irama to fulfill his presidential ambitions.

Even if the two parties went ahead with their nomination of Rhoma, he would likely fail to meet the presidential election threshold of 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives, or 25 percent of the popular vote, and rival political parties have expressed their preference for retaining the current cap.

When asked about the prospects for Rhoma in the poll, Democratic Party central board member Saan Mustofa said only that his party would seek to maintain the current threshold as mandated by Law No. 42/2008.

“We feel that we need to maintain the threshold in order to create quality democracy in this country. This doesn’t mean that we mean to shut out minor political parties. It’s just the best way to strengthen our presidential system,” Saan said on Monday.

The PKB has repeatedly said that it is serious when saying that it will nominate Rhoma. Late last week, PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar held talks with Rhoma, reportedly about the latter’s presidential ambitions.

The Muslim-based PPP has also warmed to the idea of nominating Rhoma.

PPP executive Romahurmuziy, said that Rhoma, a card-carrying member of the party, should be given the opportunity to prove himself.

“Even a developed country like the United States was once led by the actor Ronald Reagan. Thus, we don’t yet to know what a dangdut singer like Rhoma could do for this country. He has the largest number of fans as a singer,” he said.

Romahurmuziy said that Rhoma should be allowed to contest the election, in spite of his perceived shortcomings. 

“Let the public vote for their leaders. However, it’s the job of political parties to introduce potential leaders to the public,” Romahurmuziy said.

Other political parties, however, have not been impressed by Rhoma’s move. 

Senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Pramono Anung Wibowo said that Rhoma had nothing to offer to the country.

“Without a doubt he is popular, but I honestly don’t think he could serve the country as president,” Pramono said.

Many have speculated that the moves by the PKB and PPP to create controversy with Rhoma’s candidacy are part of a desperate effort to stay relevant.

Political analyst Hanta Yuda AR of the Indonesian Institute said that the publicity stunt could backfire given Rhoma’s penchant for making ill-advised comments.

“PKB has the right to experiment, but I don’t think that Rhoma will help them get more votes. He doesn’t have a quality that could attract regular voters,” he said.

Rhoma has failed to appear on the list of most popular politicians released by a number of pollsters.

In a list recently compiled by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Rhoma joined the Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie as one of the least electable candidates.

In the list, compiled from a survey on leadership in the country, former vice president Jusuf Kalla and outgoing Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD were the most popular candidates for the 2014 presidential election.