How four-finger’ salute has gone viral in Indonesian presidential election

Perception Jokowi is interfering to drum up support for son's V-P ticket spurs movement

- Hariz Baharudin

JAKARTA - For months, Indonesia's contenders have been brandishing hand signs matching their election registration numbers, but now, a new "four-finger" movement has gone viral.

It signals to voters to choose either candidate No. 1, Mr Anies Baswedan, or No. 3, Mr Ganjar Pranowo.

three presidential The campaign is the latest initiative to sideline current front-runner and candidate No. 2, Mr Prabowo Subianto, who is seen as having President Joko Widodo's backing.

Mr John Muhammad, president of the Green Party of Indonesia, started the campaign on Jan 25 with an Instagram post that stated: "Four fingers, express your choice to avoid Prabowo-Gibran".

In less than a week, Mr John's Instagram post has garnered over 15,000 likes. The numbers are even higher on X, where a post on the campaign by user @gitaputrid from Jan 26 has been viewed more than 1.4 million times, shared over 13,000 times and liked by some 26,000 users.

Mr Prabowo is running with Solo Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is Mr Widodo's elder son.

Mr Gibran's vice-presidential candidacy has been controversial, as Indonesia's Constitutional Court issued a special ruling in October 2023 that effectively allowed him to run despite being younger than 40, the minimum age required to contest the election. He was also accused of disrespectful behaviour during official debates and of campaign violations.

But what really got the movement going is the perception that Mr Widodo, or Jokowi as he is commonly known, is interfering in the elections in a bid to drum up support for his son's ticket, observers told The Straits Times.