Sofyan Tan, Final Fortress of "Banteng" in North Sumatra

The results of the presidential election show that in North Sumatra, Ganjar-Mahfud were only supported by around 12.5% of voters, which is far below the national average of 16%. Meanwhile, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka received support from 58.2%. Upon further investigation in several areas in North Sumatra that were Jokowi's supporters' strongholds, the majority of support was directed towards Prabowo-Gibran.

Similarly, in the legislative elections, PDI-P in North Sumatra is no longer the winning party. PDI-P supporters, who have long been identified with Jokowi supporters, switched their choices. Golkar Party became the most benefited party as it gained a significant surplus of support and was able to become the winner in most areas of North Sumatra.

However, behind the decline in support faced by the PDI-P in North Sumatra, the fact also shows that not all areas or electoral districts previously dominated by the PDI-P were displaced. In fact, in electoral district Sumut I, which includes the Medan Raya area, namely the cities of Medan and Tebing Tinggi as well as Deli Serdang and Serdang Bedagai Regencies, the PDI-P still survives.

In the area which also serves as the location for the government capital, center of economic activity, and residential area, PDI-P still holds 20.6 percent of the support. Meanwhile, Golkar shadows quite closely with 18.2 percent of the voters' support.

The advantages of the PDI-P in the Medan Raya area, which is also the melting pot area in North Sumatra and the most heterogeneous in population, is interesting to observe. Moreover, compared to other electoral districts in North Sumatra, both Dapil II and Dapil III, the competition pattern for Dapil I is relatively "hell electoral district".

In the hellish electoral district of North Sumatra, it is interesting to observe the progress of Sofyan Tan, the PDI-P legislative candidate who was placed at number 2.

Soyfan Tan's vote tally

Sofyan Tan is actually a doctor. He was born in Medan on September 25, 1959, with the real name Tan Kim Yang. In this election, he is recorded as the recipient of the highest number of voter support. He received 279,334 votes from the voters. His achievement not only places him as a politician who garners the most support in North Sumatra, but also positions him as the 9th candidate with the largest national support.

Interestingly, the number of votes for Sofyan Tan is far above his political rivals. He was able to defeat well-known politicians competing in North Sumatra. In addition to Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna H Laoly, who is placed first on PDI-P's ballot, there is also a politician from Golkar, Musa Rajekshah, who is also registered as the vice governor of North Sumatra. The same can be said comparing to the politician from PKS, Tifatul Sembiring, who is also a former Minister of Communication and Information Technology (2009-2014).

In addition to being able to drive away national officials, other national politicians from Golkar, Meutya Hafid, were also defeated. The presence of the young candidate Prananda Surya Paloh was also unsuccessful. The voter support successfully gathered by the son of Nasdem's Chairman Surya Paloh did not reach half of what Sofyan Tan collected.

Impressively, when trying to trace the support of voters directed towards him, there appears to be a consistent increase in Sofyan Tan's support throughout his career as a public representative. Prior to this election, he served two terms in the national legislative bench. Just like in the two previous elections he went through, in this third election, voter support has actually increased significantly, which shows a growing trust in him from the voters.

In the national political stage, the 2014 General Election was their political debut. Not surprisingly, by participating in the election, they garnered no less than 113,716 votes. In the 2019 General Election, Sofyan Tan was once again nominated as a candidate for the PDIP party. It was not in vain for PDIP, as the support gained by their candidate was even greater. At that time, Sofyan Tan again garnered the largest support, which was 158,495 votes, an increase of more than 40,000 votes from the previous election.

Sofyan Tan's profile

The level of trust from the voters towards Sofyan Tan cannot be separated from his social contributions in the areas of education, health, and the empowerment of poor people's economies that he has been involved in thus far.

Since 1987, for example, Sofyan Tan, who has been a teacher since youth, founded the Sultan Iskandar Muda Education Foundation (YPSIM), a social institution that focuses on developing education for underprivileged children from various ethnic groups, including Chinese, Batak, Malay, Indian and Tamil children.

At that time, a foster parenting model with a cross-financing system was implemented. For example, Chinese foster parents can finance the needs of Batak students or vice versa. Starting with 17 foster students in 1988, the program has now grown to about 6,900 students.

The school he manages has consistently grown, from having 171 students initially to now having 4,143 students. There are also approximately 1,600 students registered at Satya Terra Bhinneka University, which he also founded.

Before entering the national political stage, Sofyan Tan also tried his hand at running for Mayor of Medan in the 2010 Regional Elections. At that time, he was paired with former Chairman of the Medan KPU, Nelly Armayanti. The pairing nominated by the PDI-P and the Justice and Prosperous Party (PDS) managed to gain 140,676 votes, or about 20.7 percent of the total voters. This achievement led the pair to the second round of the election, facing off against the Rahudman Harahap and Dzulmi Eldin pair.

In the second round, the pair of Rahudman Harahap and Dzulmi Eldin were declared the winner. According to the calculation results of KPU Medan, the Rahudman-Dzulmi pair garnered 485,446 votes (65.88 percent), while the Sofyan-Nelly pair received 251,435 votes (34.12 percent). The result led to a lawsuit to the Constitutional Court.

Lately, after serving as the mayor and deputy mayor of Medan, both Rahudman Harahap and Dzulmi Eldin have been involved in legal cases. After the Medan mayoral election, Sofyan Tan's political steps expanded onto the national political stage, in line with his nomination by PDI-P in the 2014 Legislative Election.

In the 2024 election, Sofyan Tan's achievement is unbeatable. With a significant increase in support, adding around 120,839 voters from the previous election period, it could be said that there is no politician in North Sumatra who can match the amount of support and consistency in increasing support gained by Sofyan Tan.

It is somewhat ironic that his excellence occurs amid the declining support experienced by the PDI-P in North Sumatra. It is not an exaggeration to say that Sofyan Tan has become the final bastion of the party with the white snout bull in North Sumatra.

It is interesting to observe, what strategy did Sofyan Tan implement to be able to gain such significant additional voter votes?

Sofyan Tan's campaign strategy

Sofyan Tan recounted that the overflowing support for him did not stem from a large material support. Unlike most candidates who spread many advertisements, billboards, and approached people with distribution of groceries and envelopes, he chose a minimalist campaign style. "There are no envelopes, not even a single rupiah," Sofyan Tan revealed. He expressed that all students who have been involved in his social activities so far are living witnesses to all Sumut residents regarding his entire commitment to the struggle.

He also expressed gratitude that voters have seen what he has done so far. Armed with consistent attitudes and actions throughout his 37-year career in the lives of residents, particularly in education development, he received support from the voters. "Amidst the increasingly intense pressure of money politics, I am grateful that many in North Sumatra still chose me based on what I have done so far," he added.

Also read: Golkar's Victory Configuration in North Sumatra

Choosing the path of education development as Sofyan Tan's struggle line did not happen suddenly. It is all related to the harshness of life experiences that have been ingrained since childhood. Growing up as the child of a tailor and having faced the political turmoil of the unfriendly 1960s towards the Chinese community, Sofyan Tan solidified his decision to choose education as a way out of the pressure of problems.

Although the path he chose becomes increasingly difficult, which does not give him much freedom, he believes that only through this path will change happen.

Throughout his time as a medical student at the Methodist University of North Sumatra, Sofyan Tan was also involved in teaching. He became a high school teacher, an assistant lecturer, and eventually, after completing his studies, became more involved in social actions concerning education, diversity, and poverty.

Until now, even in his position as a representative of the people in the DPR's Commission X, those three interrelated social issues have been the focus of his work. "With proper education, the community will not easily be provoked by inter-religious and inter-ethnic hatred. Education is also related to poverty that needs to be addressed," said Sofyan Tan.

Sofyan Tan's commitment

In his daily life as a member of parliament, Sofyan Tan is also not lacking in focus in carrying out his political commitments. He revealed that in a year of working in the parliament, he underwent 14 recess periods and visits to his constituency, attending five meetings every day without fail.

During the meeting, he always positioned himself as an education motivator, encouraging villagers and urban communities, regardless of their social identity, to pursue higher education and utilize government support through the Smart Indonesia Program (PIP). "While some new candidates only visit the community during the campaign period, I have been intensively working with the people for five years," said Sofyan Tan.

Entering his third term as a representative of the people, he has already planned what he will fight for in the future. He plans to build a more integrated mother and child clinic with the presence of specialist doctors, including nutrition experts.

The reason is, eradicating stunting is not only by providing nutritious food to children, but from the time the child is in the womb. The existence of a clinic like this is of course still consistent with his line of struggle as a representative of the people who always sides with the poor.

"In the future, this clinic will become a place for poor pregnant women," said Sofyan Tan.

(R&D COMPAS)

Also read: Sofyan Tan, Equal Rights