Political Clientelism in Presidential Elections and Political History in Madura

Abstract

This research was conducted to reveal clientelism political data and to analyze why clientelism politics has not worked in the presidential election in Indonesia. This study uses a descriptive qualitative method and a case study approach. The selected cases are voters in the Madura region, East Java. Data collection techniques were carried out by conducting in-depth interviews with many informants from various backgrounds, ranging from religious leaders, community leaders, entrepreneurs, media figures, and others. In addition, data collection was also carried out by searching documents on published online media during the presidential election process. The research that has been conducted reveals data that the incumbent presidential candidate, Joko Widodo, and his winning team practiced clientelism politics, through various government programs he led, ranging from social assistance (grants) to programs originating from official ministries and state-owned enterprises. However, the political clientelism exercised by presidential candidate Jokowi is not working in the Madura region. Moreover, in the 2019 presidential election, Jokowi still lost to his rival, Prabowo Subianto. From the analysis conducted, the dysfunctional clientelism politics run by presidential candidate Jokowi is due to three factors that lead to local politics of voters in Madura.
 Keywords: presidential election, clientelism politics, political history in Madura