Discourse Analysis Of Ridwan Kamil’s Statements On The Governor Candidacy Of Jakarta On Facebook Social Media On February 29, 2016

Abstract

The electoral commission has launched the second wave of the 2017 simultaneous election for voting the local and regional heads. Those elections are going to be held in seven provinces, eighteen cities, and seventy-six districts or specifically to the regions in which the tenure of the heads and the deputy heads is also ending between July 2016 and December 2017. Referring to Act number 8 of 2015 on the local elections, it is stated that the election of 2017 is going to be held on February, 15,16 and 17, 2017 . One of the seven provinces that is going to hold the election in 2017 is Jakarta Province, the Special Region of the Capital. There are several names of candidates who are ready to fight against Ahok, the caretaker as well as an independent candidate of Jakarta governor. Previously, there were some names deemed to be such serious competitors of Ahok for Jakarta governor candidates, and one of them was Ridwan Kamil, the Mayor of Bandung. Many people thought that Ridwan Kamil, who is active on social media of Facebook and Twitter, is the appropriate rival to compete with Ahok in the election of the Governor of Jakarta Province. In fact, nearly 80% of people assumed that Ridwan Kamil had been positive to oppose Ahok in 2017 election if he was given the opportunity. Ridwan Kamil often chirps on Twitter and posts his daily activities as the mayor of Bandung on Facebook always resulting in high appreciation from his thousands followers in the form of various comments. He often uses the social media to greet the Indonesian people, especially the residents of Bandung. The 2 | P a g e witty and funny statements often trigger the internet citizens (netizens) to crowdedly respond. He was even considered a media darling of social media. . The opportunity given to Ridwan Kamil was certainly a dilemma for him. Then on February 27, 2016 he asked the opinion of 1.6 million people on facebook Fanpage: "Is it necessary for Ridwan Kamil to go to Jakarta to attend the Jakarta governor election in 2017?". About fifty-five thousand comments and sixty-eight thousands gave “like†response. On average, the opinions of the citizens expressed that they still wanted him as the mayor of Bandung and completed his obligations. Some, however, also gave their comments that Jakarta needed such cold hands of him. On Monday, February 29, 2016, however, the people were surprised by the decision of Ridwan Kamil related to the election of the Jakarta governor in 2017. He confirmed that he would not go to Jakarta for the governor election. He wrote his statements on his facebook account and earned a lot of high praises from the public, especially the residents of Bandung. Many thought that his commitment was aimed to build and to educate the people. On the other hand, some were very sad to hear it since his excellent track records as the mayor of Bandung have already been acknowledged. The statements of Ridwan Kamil consisted of eighteen paragraphs and were very interesting to study. Based on them, the focus of this study is to analyze the contents of the text written by Ridwan Kamil on his facebook account on February 29, 2016.