A Fall From Grace? “Beef-gate” and the Case of Indonesia’s Prosperous Justice Party
Type
ArticleAuthor/s
Kramer, ElisabethAbstract
This article explores the impact of a widely publicized corruption scandal upon Indonesia’s
most prominent Islamic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in 2013, involving
the exchange of money in return for beef-import licenses (“Beef-gate”). In the 2004 and
2009 elections ...
See moreThis article explores the impact of a widely publicized corruption scandal upon Indonesia’s most prominent Islamic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in 2013, involving the exchange of money in return for beef-import licenses (“Beef-gate”). In the 2004 and 2009 elections PKS ran a populist campaign, drawing heavily upon anti-corruption rather than Islamic issues, and became renowned for its hard-line stance against graft. However, while PKS’s reputation certainly deteriorated due to Beef-gate, it still performed better than anticipated in the nation’s legislative election held in April 2014. This article proposes two possible reasons for this: the party’s grassroots membership structure provided a solid basis from which to rebuild, and the senior leadership adeptly managed its image while the scandal was in the public eye. With this effective image management, the party was able to retain the support of many of its voters, while minimizing damage to its image more broadly. Makalah ini membahas dari satu kasus yang hangat diberitakan tahun 2013 yaitu skandal korupsi yang dihadapi Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) mengenai lisensi impor daging sapi (dikenal sebagai “Beef-gate”). Pada pemilihan umum tahun 2004 dan 2009, PKS mengambil langkah kampanye populis, dengan mengedepankan isu-isu anti-korupsi daripada isu-isu Islami lainnya, dan dikenal mempunyai sikap yang sangat keras menolak korupsi. Meski reputasi PKS menurun akibat skandal impor daging sapi ini, dalam pemilihan umum bulan April 2014 PKS masih mampu meraih lebih banyak suara daripada yang diperkirakan. Makalah ini mengajukan dua alasan atas hal tersebut: struktur keanggotaan di akar rumput menyediakan dasar yang cukup kuat untuk bangkit kembali, dan pimpinan senior partai mahir menjalin citra partai di saat skandal tersebut menjadi sorotan publik. Dengan kemahiran menjalin citra partai secara efektif ini, PKS tetap mampu menahan suara dan pada saat yang sama, secara umum memperkecil dampak dari citra yang rusak itu.
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See moreThis article explores the impact of a widely publicized corruption scandal upon Indonesia’s most prominent Islamic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in 2013, involving the exchange of money in return for beef-import licenses (“Beef-gate”). In the 2004 and 2009 elections PKS ran a populist campaign, drawing heavily upon anti-corruption rather than Islamic issues, and became renowned for its hard-line stance against graft. However, while PKS’s reputation certainly deteriorated due to Beef-gate, it still performed better than anticipated in the nation’s legislative election held in April 2014. This article proposes two possible reasons for this: the party’s grassroots membership structure provided a solid basis from which to rebuild, and the senior leadership adeptly managed its image while the scandal was in the public eye. With this effective image management, the party was able to retain the support of many of its voters, while minimizing damage to its image more broadly. Makalah ini membahas dari satu kasus yang hangat diberitakan tahun 2013 yaitu skandal korupsi yang dihadapi Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) mengenai lisensi impor daging sapi (dikenal sebagai “Beef-gate”). Pada pemilihan umum tahun 2004 dan 2009, PKS mengambil langkah kampanye populis, dengan mengedepankan isu-isu anti-korupsi daripada isu-isu Islami lainnya, dan dikenal mempunyai sikap yang sangat keras menolak korupsi. Meski reputasi PKS menurun akibat skandal impor daging sapi ini, dalam pemilihan umum bulan April 2014 PKS masih mampu meraih lebih banyak suara daripada yang diperkirakan. Makalah ini mengajukan dua alasan atas hal tersebut: struktur keanggotaan di akar rumput menyediakan dasar yang cukup kuat untuk bangkit kembali, dan pimpinan senior partai mahir menjalin citra partai di saat skandal tersebut menjadi sorotan publik. Dengan kemahiran menjalin citra partai secara efektif ini, PKS tetap mampu menahan suara dan pada saat yang sama, secara umum memperkecil dampak dari citra yang rusak itu.
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Date
2014Source title
Asian Politics and PolicyVolume
6Issue
4Publisher
Wiley PeriodicalsLicence
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0Rights statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Kramer, E. (2014), A Fall from Grace?. Asian Politics & Policy, 6: 555-576, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.12137. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.Faculty/School
The University of Sydney Multidisciplinary Centres and Institutes , Sydney Southeast Asia CentreFaculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Languages and Cultures
Department, Discipline or Centre
Department of Indonesian StudiesShare