In the Sunday NYT, op-ed contributor Endy M. Bayuni wrote a lighthearted piece about the recent elections in Indonesia:

This is only Indonesia’s third free and fair election since General Suharto resigned in 1998, but April’s election, along with those in 1999 and 2004, have proven to skeptics that democracy can be practiced here, in the world’s largest Muslim nation.

Certainly encouraging news from that corner of the planet. What caught our eye was the last graf:

The names that stood out on the ballots were not of politicians but of celebrities and comedians. Not surprisingly, some of them won and some seasoned politicians lost or may lose their seats– for instance, a popular Jakarta comedian named Mandra is leading the House speaker, Agung Laksono. Presumably, after what seems like endless scandals, many people feel that if you are going to send a bunch of clowns to Parliament, then you may as well send in the real clowns this time. At least we will all get a good laugh.

From the Jakarta Globe comes this item, which provides some more detail:

Facing a credibility crisis due to the corruption and sex scandals involving several members of the House of Representatives, some political parties contesting the legislative elections recruited celebrities to attract voters, but provisional tallies suggest that those vote-getters may soon unseat their senior counterparts.

According to the Web site of the General Elections Commission, or KPU, popular comedian Mandra, who ran for the Islam-based National Mandate Party, or PAN, was leading the tabulation in the East Jakarta electoral district on Sunday with 411 votes.

Mandra, who is best known for his role in the television drama “Si Doel Anak Sekolahan,” is PAN’s number one legislative candidate for the House, and was running against seasoned politician Agung Laksono of the Golkar Party, who is also the current House speaker.

He’s the Al Franken of Indonesia. And he seems to be bucking a trend in these elections– Bayuni says that early results indicate that Indonesians are favoring candidates from secular-centrist parties. Perhaps no one takes him seriously. He is, however, famous.

In a blog called Bhayu Personal Blog (by an Indonesian gentleman who, from what we can tell, is involved in advertising and marketing), we learn that Mandra is a big enough celeb to garner endorsement deals.

Clients use media to create the image they like. They choose advertising technique that could maximize their profit. And in this way, celebrity fulfills that. They are a good example of the meaning of “success” in life, the “thing” that everybody wants. The celebrity here not only movie player, singer, or another luxurious performer, but also political leader (like parliament member, advocate), athlete (Ade Rai, Chris John), newsmaker (like Mbah Maridjan) and in Indonesian case: comedian. Yes, comedian. We can see many advertising using them as endorser. (You can see Tukul, Timbul, Mandra, etc.)

We eventually found ourselves reading a 2002 obit for Indonesian comedian named Bokir in the Jakarta Post. Bokir was a leading exponent of a form of traditional Indonesian theater called topeng:

Ever since he was a baby, Bokir’s life was closely connected to Betawi traditional theater. He learnt the ropes from his father, who was the owner of the popular topeng theater group, Topeng Jiun.

In 1966, together with his cousin Nasir, he established his own topeng group, Setia Warga, whose members were mainly drawn from the same family. The group launched the careers of now-popular Betawi comedians, Mandra, Omas and Mastur.

With credits like that, Setia Warga, it could be argued, is the Second City of Indonesia.