Sepekan – The “Mark All” Movement (GERCOS), in which voters mark all candidates in the Jakarta gubernatorial election, continues to be a topic of public discussion. Similar phenomena have occurred in other regions of Indonesia but not as massively as what is happening in Jakarta now.
Political analyst from Universitas Widya Mataram (UWM) Yogyakarta, Dr. Martadani Noor, M.A., views the act of marking all candidates in the Jakarta gubernatorial election as part of the democratic process.
However, he explicitly states that this phenomenon can be seen as a form of resistance against political parties that are perceived to have failed to support the figures desired by the people. “Anies happens to be the central figure in the Jakarta gubernatorial election, which is why this phenomenon is more prominent,” Martadani said when contacted by KBA News on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
The Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at UWM Yogyakarta noted that similar phenomena have occurred in other regions, but not as significantly as in Jakarta, where support for Anies is so substantial.
“In other words, the ‘mark all candidates’ phenomenon is not new. It has happened in other regions as well, but not on the scale of the Anies phenomenon in Jakarta,” he explained.
The significant public support for Anies has been captured by several survey institutions. Before the registration deadline for the Jakarta gubernatorial election, Anies Baswedan consistently topped the public’s mind. The electability of the Jakarta Governor from 2017 to 2022 was always the highest compared to other candidates.
Martadani stated that this high electability reflects the strong public aspiration for this figure to be a candidate in the Jakarta gubernatorial election. However, the fact is that this figure was not supported by political parties in the democratic contest.
A Warning
Meanwhile, Chairman of Poros Jakarta, Biem Benyamin, describes this as the voice of the people dissatisfied with the current candidates.
“This is the people’s aspiration. Let’s see, this is a process. We are accommodating their aspirations,” he said in an interview with KBA News in the Jagakarsa District on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
According to him, this phenomenon serves as a warning to the government and political parties. They should see this as a protest from the grassroots.
“The public is reacting to the government and the parties, that if they continue like this, there will be resistance from the people. GERCOS is an expression of that resistance,” he explained.
He also emphasized that the GERCOS movement, whether conducted by the public or volunteers, is not directed by Anies Baswedan.
“I am from Poros Jakarta, which supports Anies Baswedan. Anies himself has not directed this movement in any particular way,” he said
