CENTRAL ACEH REGIONAL ELECTION IN 2017 : BETWEEN CONTESTATION AND ALLIANCE INTER-BELAH

Abstract

This paper focuses on issues of political identity where the use of the issue of kinship in the Central Aceh Regional Election competition in 2017 is too thick. Kinship for the Gayo community in Central Aceh Regency becomes the basis for determining their political choices, which have a "tradition" to divide their community into two belah (clans), namely Uken-Toa.

The purpose of this paper is to see the phenomenon of how the Uken-Toa issue is used by the Gayo community as a reference in selecting candidates for the Central Aceh regent in the 2017 regional election. Qualitative research techniques with ethnographic methods start to involve direct observation (observation of participation) and free and in-depth interviews conducted during the research in the field.

In the journey of its history in Gayo, Uken and Toa are endless issues to be discussed, these two Gayo sub-tribes almost never "make peace". The competition between Uken and Toa in Gayo almost covers all sectors of life, including in the implementation of the 2017 regional elections. But when we noticed again, the political use of Uken-Toa in the 2017 regional election presents different fragments compared to the pre-reform period. At present, the fragmentation between Uken-Toa is no longer to posit both of them as an opponent but makes them united.

We can see how the duality of the Uken and Toa groups as a mechanism for the distribution of the Gayo community which initially leads to a cultural competition between the two, but at present, it has been reconstructed as a mechanism to build alliances for the sake of winning the election in Central Aceh District. Thus, the paradigm of the Uken-Toa relationship now has transformed from the competition paradigm shifting to the alliance paradigm, and political interest factors are the main factors driving this transformation.

Keyword: Gayo, Uken-Toa, belah, kinship, regional election