Indonesia’s Anies enjoys late uptick in presidential race

(Reuters) – Ex-Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan is the dark horse in Indonesia’s Feb. 14 presidential election.

While the 54-year-old made a slow start as an independent candidate, his poll numbers are swelling as voting day approaches, thanks to his articulate speeches on the stump and promises of change amid worries of back-sliding on democracy in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

Opinion surveys show he trails well behind frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, an ex-special forces commander, but is neck-and-neck with a third candidate, Ganjar Pranowo.

If no candidate gets an absolute majority in the election, a run-off will be held in June between the two.

Anies’ late surge in surveys comes after winning performances in televised presidential debates, where, aside from promising equitable growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and protect the country’s democratic values, he also landed well-targeted blows at Prabowo.

An ease with voters, whether at rowdy campaign events or on social media, has also helped.

As a former Fulbright scholar and university lecturer, Anies has long commanded respect in Indonesia’s intellectual and liberal circles. An initiative he founded in 2010 to bring education to remote corners of the vast archipelago attracted thousands of volunteers.

Though his clout grew steadily in policymaking circles, Anies the politician remained in the wings. In 2013, after missing out on a presidential nomination from the then-ruling Democratic Party, he hitched his wagon to the rising star of soon-to-be president Joko Widodo, as his speech writer and eventually education minister.

Anies’ true political breakthrough came in 2017, when he was elected governor of the capital Jakarta, a position often considered a springboard to the presidency.

But his rise was tainted with controversy as he accepted the endorsement of hardline Islamist groups that agitated against an ethnic Chinese Christian rival. Anies, who espouses moderate Islam, was accused of doing little to mend widening religious and communal rifts in the secular country, which he has refuted.

Still, while in office, he was praised for his COVID-19 response and improving public services and transport in a jam-packed Jakarta, a track record he touts today as he campaigns for the country’s top job.

(Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)