In Bekasi – and Indonesia – a house divided?

Much at stake: With promises to improve its infrastructure, will Jokowi be able to take West Java and secure re-election, or will it remain with Prabowo? — Photos by Team Ceritalah and others

ON April 17, 2019, Indonesia will be going to the polls. West Java, the country’s most-populous province with 48.6 million inhabitants, is the pre-eminent electoral battleground.

Back in 2014, Joko Widodo lost the vote-rich prize to his nemesis, the former general Prabowo Subianto by a huge, twenty-point margin. Ever since then, he’s made the homeland of the Sundanese people a key target, lavishing the region with a succession of critical infrastructure projects, from new airports, railway lines, LRTs, dams and highways.