As the nation gears up for the upcoming presidential election, the candidates have already embarked on unconventional strategies to capture the attention of voters using the Internet staples of dance and cats. One even got traction after netizens made memes of him.

More than 200 million people are eligible to vote in the election on Feb 14, 2024, where Indonesia will choose a new leader as President Joko Widodo cannot run for another term.

The three pairs in the contest are former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan, 54, and his running mate, former minister Muhaimin Iskandar, 57; former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo, 55, and chief security minister Mahfud MD, 66; and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, 72, and Solo Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, the eldest son of Jokowi.

Although official campaigning kicks off on Nov 28 and runs until Feb 10, 2024, the candidates have already set the digital stage abuzz with their early forays into social media.

Prabowo has been filmed on several occasions dancing, the latest being on Nov 14 when he received his serial number at the General Election Commission (KPU) office, much to the delight of his supporters who made the videos go viral.

He has busted similar moves during his birthday celebration on Oct 17 as well as when he went to register his candidacy at the KPU a few days later.

The minister, who will be trying to become president for the third time, explained in a talk show on Nov 19 that his dancing is inspired by his grandfather, who used to do the same when he was happy.

According to him, his grandfather was from Banyumas in central Java and there was no television or any form of entertainment there, except for dancing. “So every time there is good news or happy news, he would always dance like that,” said Prabowo.

Indonesian media outlets regularly produce reports containing photos and videos of the minister whenever he dances, and clips of these moments get thousands of views online.

For Anies, cats have been one of his tools of choice to appeal to voters. The long-time politician, who has been active in the scene for more than a decade, has amassed more than six million followers on his Instagram account @aniesbaswedan, while a separate account for his four cats @pawswedan has a respectable follower count of more than 22,000.

That account describes itself as the “Baswedan cat family” and has stories, posts as well as highlights of Anies’s four cats: Aslan, Lego, Oboy and Snowball.

The cats themselves have grabbed their own headlines, including how one feline, Aslan, gave a “cat massage” to Anies after a long day at work and how a book series has been published about another feline, Lego, which has only three legs. Two videos of Aslan giving Anies massages have garnered a combined viewership of more than 10 million.

A running gag on @pawswedan is how the four cats are competing to become “pawsiden”. The team managing the account also stays up to date with whatever is in the news and has uploaded photos of the cats calling for Palestine to be freed and parodying the current blockbuster film The Marvels.

Ganjar does not upload pictures of his pets or dances to music, but he has still generated buzz among netizens over the choice of Mahfud as the second name on his ticket.

The running mate for Ganjar, who was revealed as the candidate for the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in April, was the subject of intense scrutiny, as for months, neither the party nor the former governor made any announcements about who it would be.

The choice of Mahfud was only made known on Oct 18, a day before they went to register at KPU.

The Internet wasted no time in responding to this pairing, and memes started circulating soon after the announcement.

One of the popular ones includes a play on the fast food chain Bakmi GM, referring to the first letter of the pair’s names.

Netizens have also started making allusions to the food delivery service GoFood in tweets and posts about the pair, a play on the term GoFud or GaFud that is derived from their names as well.

“Instead of GoFood, it’s better to choose GaFud, Ganjar Mahfud,” said user @sunimkato on social media platform X.

Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst at public policy advisory firm Global Counsel, said that candidates like Prabowo and Anies have decided to utilise easy-to-remember symbols, like dance and pets, so that they are readily shareable on social media platforms.

It remains uncertain, however, whether this approach effectively influences voters, Dedi said, adding that elections in Indonesia are a complicated matter that are not just influenced by policy choices or campaign manifestos.

“Indonesian electoral choices are influenced by various factors such as geographical representation, religious/racial identity, personal networks and money politics. The behaviour of electorates in Indonesia are much more complex,” he said. — The Straits Times/ANN