Political Communication Experiences of Sundanese Muslim Women Politicians

Abstract

This  research  aim ed  to  understand the political communication of  Sundanese Muslim Women Politicians in West Java  in interacting  with their partners  in political parties and their constituents.  By u sing a qualitative research method with a case study approach involving five informants who were selected purposively based on predetermined characteristics, the  data collection technique  used literature review, in-depth interviews ,  and non-participant observation. The results showed that: a) education from parents; b) the role of religious groups; c) the desire to overcome the problems that exist in society are the reasons for Sundanese Muslim Women Politicians to join political parties. In addition, their aim to become politicians is to become a mediator of communication between the community and the legislature and furthermore  to  be able to play an active  role in making pro-women policies. The novelty of this research is that Sundanese Muslim women position themselves as subordinate, not to be ordinate.  Another result of  the  research  showed  the motive s . There  are  two  motives of Sundanese Muslim women politicians involved in politics, namely  the “b ecause of ” motive  and  the “ In order to ” motive . The political communication of  Sundanese Muslim Women Politicians  in West Java, especially when interacting with political party colleagues is interpreted as a process of building interpersonal relations. While political communication when interacting with constituents  is interpreted as communication to build sympathy and support .