Campaign camouflaged as culture expo

Last weekend I followed a trail of motorbike and truck passengers marked by their bright orange t-shirts to a huge cultural event at a park in Jambi (I was most surprised to find out there actually is a park here!!  It is actually really nice looking too, with traditional houses from every district of Jambi Province).  Well, the event turned out to be a Javanese cultural exposition put on by the Jambi-Java Friendship Group and it featured dance and musical performances from all over Java, and a few from Sumatra.  
 Then the political connection came in.  Not surprisingly, the head of this friendship group is also running for Deputy Governor in next spring’s gubernatorial election.  Programs for the event were passed out all over- but used by most people as fans instead of reading material- and featured his profile on the front and back cover with the inside detailing all of the good works he has done for Jambi.  There was no direct mention of the campaign though, just showing him as an exemplary public figure with his name repeated over and over in large font (name recognition being key in Indonesian elections).  And of course, the best part, every attendee received a complimentary t-shirt for showing up, in the beautiful colors of bright orange with bright blue trim.  I definitely grabbed one for myself, hoping to eventually be able to recount the campaign period in t-shirts.

A truck of onlookers resting in the shade with their new multi-purpose t-shirts.

Baby passed out from the heat and excitement on a bed of newspaper and said multi-purpose t-shirt.