To borrow the statement of Commander of the Siliwangi Regional Military Command, Major General TNI Nugroho Budi Wiryanto, that the TNI should go a little further, Anies’ volunteers are also advised to be proactive and creative in introducing their presidential candidate.
FOR ordinary people, especially the lower middle class, of course they don’t really know about Anies. Who is Anies? An odd question but it’s a fact. Why did it come to that?
One time I stopped at a coffee shop on Kedung Cowek Street, Surabaya. I asked in Javanese for fun, “Mom… tepang Anies Baswedan? answered by the mother, “Mboten ngertos Mas”.
While reminding the mother, maybe there is a memory that can remember Anies, I tried to explain that Anies is a presidential candidate in 2024, former governor of Jakarta. The mother nods as if she understands. “But Mr. Anies’s commitment has been tough, and TV has continued when he led Jakarta, his promise to be fulfilled,” he said.
The same thing was experienced by Anies volunteer friends, Soraya, Pamekasan, Madura. When they introduced Anies at the market while shopping, they caught Anies as someone who couldn’t work, was involved in corruption, he said, that’s what I heard on television. The same thing happened to friends Nanang and Achmad Hariyanto, Anies Sidoarjo volunteers, when they introduced Anies to women and market traders, even though many of them were wearing T-shirts with Anies’s image, the 2024 presidential candidate, they did not know. The women said they did not know. Also based on the data, out of 600 thousand households in Sidoarjo, it is reported that there are still 31% that have not had cell phones touched.
What can we learn from the experiences above? There are still many who do not know and aware of Anies, especially among those who are in marginal and suburban areas as well as villages in certain areas which are categorized as villages. Because they are in the lower middle class category and moreover have not been touched by internet technology, such as cell phones, their information is obtained from television. While we know that almost all mainstream media are dominated by oligarchs and anti-Anies powers.
After all, those who already have cellphones, their information also comes from YouTube, Tik Tok and others, which contain a lot of hoaxes and slander spread by buzzers paid for by the oligarchs and palaces who hate Anies.
What can Anies’ volunteers do to anticipate and compensate for this hoax and slanderous information? Anies’ volunteers, are actually militant volunteers, volunteers who work without limits, even though they don’t get any logistics, they are willing to spend it for the sake of the changes that are being promoted by Anies. Anies calls them priceless, because they could not be judged by the material obtained.
But unfortunately the militancy of volunteers has not been balanced with measurable and structured work. Anies volunteers still play a lot internally. They still often share things that have nothing to do with Anies’ popularity and electability, sometimes they feel satisfied if they have shared bad things about opponents.
There are only a few months remaining, if you count from now, then there are only 8 months left, a relatively short time to introduce Anies let alone electability and accessibility.
As a good and militant volunteer, Anies’ volunteers must start learning to work in a measured and organized way, the work is scheduled step by step and there are goals to be achieved, so there is a need for a volunteer leader, it is hoped that they can organize the groups they lead. It is not permissible for those who are in a group of volunteers to feel superior and work on the basis of their own will, disobeying what is the line of struggle of their group. All must be able to restrain themselves, understand working in a community.
It’s the same between groups of volunteers, don’t think that anyone is the greatest and the smartest, then they don’t want to work together and complement each other. It must be admitted that Anies volunteers must have limitations, they cannot reach all, so working together to complement each other is a necessity.
In the midst of the limitations and unlimited power of opponents, collaboration should be an option to fight.
It is time for volunteers and groups of volunteers to kill their egos, to feel that they are the greatest and most capable, they must have the courage to sit together and formulate joint work with roles that can be carried out.
So it became interesting to call from the volunteer coordinator of the Prosperous Indonesia National Alliance in East Java, who called on all volunteers to carry out the one house one banner movement, a movement that is cheap, easy and can be carried out.
You can imagine, if all houses put up a banner, then this will be a people’s movement for change, households and people who live around our houses, will know and recognize Anies’ vision as a presidential candidate for 2024. Every house will become a winning post for Anies Baswedan. If that really becomes the spirit of the struggle of Anies’ volunteers, it is not impossible that we will soon realize a wave of change in 2024.
Criticism of East Java journalists in a discussion seeking input for Anies, said that Mas Anies’ appearance which seemed formal, stiff and elite, although not all of it was true, should also be a note for friends who are around Mas Anies, light and effective communication is needed with the community , because what is needed is a good impression of Mas Anies. That impression doesn’t have to be related to the vision they are fighting for, but small, simple things that can make them always remember and tell good stories to others.
Tuku jimat nang Gunung Lawu, jebule nang Pulau Kangean.
Happy Indonesia. Picking up a change with Anies Baswedan.
Isa Ansori, Columnist and Academic