Menchik in VOA on Elections for Jakarta Governor
Jeremy Menchik, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Fredrick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on the recent elections for Governor of Jakarta, Indonesia, calling the election a success for Indonesia’s democratic institutions.
Menchik was interviewed for a February 17, 2017 article in VOA Indonesia.
From the translated text of the article:
Assistant Professor in the Pardee School at Boston University, Jeremy Menchik, told VOA that this election brought out fierce competition between the most powerful groups in Indonesian society.
“One candidate is from the family of former president Yudhoyono, who wants to hold on to power. There are the Islamists who have run on a campaign of “defending Islam” and have tried to use the courts to slander their competition. And there are the technocrats who excel at governing but are not particularly good campaigners. It’s a volatile mix.”
“But overall the election was a success and I think Indonesians have much to be proud of. Ahok’s winning 40% of the vote in a very contentious election mean that democratic institutions are working even amidst a contentious campaign. Dirty politics do not delegitimize Indonesia’s successful democratic transition and consolidation. Dirty politics are a normal, if unfortunate aspect of democracy.”
You can read the entire article here.
Jeremy Menchik’s research interests include comparative politics, religion and politics, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. He is also the author of Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance Without Liberalism. At Boston University he is a member of the graduate faculty of political science and coordinates the MAIA program with specialization in Religion and International Affairs.