What happens when two wives of an incumbent district head vie to replace their outgoing husband?
Hostility comes out into the open.
And that is exactly what is happening in the election in Kediri, East Java.
Haryanti is the first wife of district head Sutrisno. Among others, she will be running against Nurlaila, her husband’s younger wife.
Haryanti has the support of four political parties — the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).
Nurlaila’s ticket is being backed by the National Mandate Party (PAN) and some other factions not represented in the national legislature.
The hostility between the two wives was evident on Thursday when all the candidates were invited to explain their vision and mission at the Bukit Daun Hotel in Kediri.
It got off to a bad start when first wife Haryanti refused to shake hands with Nurlaila.
As a consequence, a member of the audience threw a plastic glass of water at the candidates. It was not clear who the target was, as it failed to hit any of the three hopefuls. But chaos ensued.
The head of the Kediri General Elections Commission (KPU), Agus Edi Winarto, said he had tried his best to hold a debate among candidates before the elections on Wednesday.
Agus said he did not believe there was a political motive behind the incident and he was certain the candidates would behave themselves in the future.
He acknowledged the debate had been designed to prevent the candidates from confronting one another head on.
“We designed it with a mediator so that they could not directly argue against each other, in the hope that they would not try to attack each other,” Agus said.
Hostility between the two wives has been obvious for a long time.
During a presentation of the candidates’ vision and mission before Kediri’s Regional Legislative Council last month, the two wives previously refused to shake hands after the event.
Haryanti also left the building through another door to avoid having to meet Nurlaila.
While the two wives are currently squabbling for a position now held by their husband, he is busy facing corruption allegations over the construction of the Simpang Lima Gumul monument, which ate up billions of rupiah of the state budget.
