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Analysis: Dedi Mulyadi: Sundanese prince’s road to glory
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Dedi Mulyadi.
A
lthough the next presidential election is four years away, politicians across the country have already begun to boost their popularity in hopes of garnering enough support for a possible run. West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi is among the politicians trying their luck.
The populist governor has made headwinds across the country, introducing controversial initiatives, including sending misbehaving high school students to military barracks, as well as the idea of requiring vasectomies for families to receive social aid. This is all while maintaining a “down-to-earth” approach to his constituents, reminiscent of a popular public figure in the country.
Dedi, better known by his constituents as “Kang Dedi” hails from the Gerindra Party after switching allegiance from Golkar in 2023, only to run for governor. The 54-year-old politician is Sundanese, the dominant ethnic group in West Java.
Although Indonesia is home to hundreds of ethnicities, political power has mainly been centralized around the prominent Javanese ethnic group. According to the 2010 census by the National Statistical Body (BPS), Javanese account for over 40 percent of the country’s total population.
From founding father Sukarno all the way to incumbent Prabowo Subianto, every Indonesian head of state has carried with them Javanese blood, cementing the unwritten social hierarchy of this nation. Third president, B.J Habibie, was thought to break the rule, but he was half-Javanese from his mother.
If Dedi eyes the presidency, his Sundanese ethnicity and adherence to Sunda Wiwitan, which is a folk belief system not officially recognized by the state, would make him a unique, potentially groundbreaking candidate.
It will be an interesting dynamic to observe in the coming presidential race whether the Indonesian electorate is willing to embrace Dedi’s ethnic and religious background, potentially paving the way to move past the historical power structures dominated by the Javanese.
