News analysis Indonesia's vigilantes use social media to make politicians face the music

Politicians' controversial online histories are shared widely by a youthful citizenry

- Hariz Baharudin

Recent events in Indonesia indicate there is a growing trend in political activism. Instead of the usual street demonstrations or legal cases, people are turning to the online court of public opinion to make politicians sit up and take notice.

Online vigilantes across the archipelago have, over the past month, targeted politicians, circulating both their old and new social media posts to express their dissatisfaction.

In late August, soon after two high-profile politicians - Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung and former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil - registered for November's race to become Jakarta's next governor, netizens began digging into their past.

They unearthed and shared old tweets and screenshots, which many perceived as sexist and demeaning towards women.

Netizens pointed out how in Oct 2010, Mr Pramono, from the country's largest political party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, had made a reference to breasts in a tweet about a traffic jam.

He said he hoped to avoid “pamer susu montok" a phrase referring to women showing off their cleavage, but also an abbreviation of "padat merayap susul menyusul mobil rontok", which refers to a traffic jam.

A month later in another tweet, Mr Pramono compared "loket", which are ticket counters, and "toket", a slang term for breasts, suggesting that both are meant to be "peeked at".

Mr Ridwan, who is backed by a coalition of 15 parties including President-elect Prabowo Subianto's Gerindra, also made the same "pamer susu" pun in 2010.

That year, he also tweeted about peeking up skirts using the mirrors on pencil sharpeners and made a comment about how Indonesia's House of Representatives, or DPR, stood for "Dada Paha Rata", or women with small thighs and flat chests.

Whether or not their past comments will affect their chances at the ballot box in November remains to be seen, but already there has been an effect.