Loud and clear: Emak-emak Militan members staging a rally in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta in 2018. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
THOUSANDS of housewives assembled recently in East Java to hold mass prayers in support of Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo’s bid in the 2024 presidential election, accompanied by ustazah who led religious chants.
Dressed uniformly in white, the group, which goes by the name Mak Ganjar (Mums for Ganjar), hailed from the capital Jakarta and its surrounding satellite cities.
Evy Nafisah, the coordinator for Greater Jakarta’s Mak Ganjar assembly, said the event was a “spiritual initiative” to help ensure success and favourable luck for Ganjar’s presidential endeavour.
Noting that the 53-year-old politician had always aced electability polls, Evy said she perceived Ganjar as sensitive to domestic interests such as affordable and stable commodity prices.
“Ganjar’s victory in the presidential election will be a triumph for all housewives as well,” she said, as quoted by Tempo.
Before its most recent rally in Jakarta, members of the group from other cities had assembled in their hundreds and even in the thousands to declare their support.
Apart from gathering for mass prayers, the ladies have also reportedly taken up other activities from organising bazaars to aerobics sessions and beauty classes.
Evy said most of the Mak Ganjar groups were formed through social media, where housewives bonded over their support for Ganjar before deciding to meet in person.
While a proportion of their members are not politically savvy, the group coordinator noted that most, if not all of them, were motivated by media coverage of Ganjar, whose popularity has been on an upward trend over the past few years.
“We were inspired by the media. We cannot close our eyes to the sheer power of social media. The world is in our hands,” Evy said.
But Charta Politika executive director Yunarto Wijaya said it was highly likely that there was an external variable that helped spark the movement such as a political party, a candidate or donors.
At the same time, there is an unmistakable element of sincerity among volunteers like Evy as well.
“If a politician with low electability tries to launch a movement, it will most likely lose momentum. Though these organisations are not 100% organic, a candidate with high electability can get a movement going with limited resources and watch it amplify independently,” he said. He said the voice of housewives plays an intriguing role in local politics. In the past decade, some politicians have made notable efforts to appeal to this demographic.
In 2019, for example, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Sandiaga Uno at the time pledged to “fight for the emak-emak (housewives) party”.
This group, which became one of the pair’s most vital voter bases, strongly believed the duo would represent their interests in government, with some going as far as creating a subgroup named Emak-emak Militan (Militant Mums), who later claimed foul play after President Joko Widodo’s re-election victory.Three members of Emak-emak Militan were arrested in 2019 for scheming to sabotage Jokowi’s inauguration.
Yunarto suggested that housewife groups could benefit from systematically organising to demand accountability from their championed candidate, such as holding town hall meetings and drafting clear outlines of their expectations.
Ella Prihatini, a Binus University political scientist, said it was essential that women not be intoxicated by promises and instead look into the candidates’ track record on female engagement.
“Hopefully these women are not simply used as political vehicles. And politicians ought to be responsible too. You won because women expected you to solve things. But will you?” — The Jakarta Post/ANN
