Indonesian pencak silat athlete and Asian Games gold medalist Hanifan Yudani Kusumah celebrates his joy by embracing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the general chairman of the Indonesian Pencak Silat Association (IPSI), Prabowo Subianto, at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, Jakarta, on Aug. 29.
The current long period of presidential election campaign has spent time and drained our energy. In its process, there is no picture about the lives of ordinary people who will get the benefit. On the contrary, the lengthy debate during this campaign period has to some extent harmed all of us by destroying the basis of community harmony and disrupting citizen reasoning.
The main cause is the fact that the campaign has shifted from a battle of ideas and programs to an awful debate that highlights the black campaign against the opponent\'s ugliness and the superficial greatness of the candidates being supported. This is our current democracy that can and has resulted in a part of the people becoming saturated and longing for other systems, if any, which are expected to be able to provide more certainty. If the condition is like this, then what will be taken as a consideration for citizens to elect the president?
Guide to choosing
Actually it is not too difficult to make a list of qualifications and criteria that can be a guide for choosing. The ideal president should be someone who is honest, clean, and willing to be a servant of the citizens, not vice versa asking to be served. He is a leader who has strong integrity and is able to maintain the unity and diversity of the nation and maintain the territorial sovereignty of the country. The track record is clear, not legally flawed, ethical, logical, and morally good and has proven that he is a democrat who recognizes and respects the people as the highest authority in his country.
An elected president must prioritize the public interest over himself, his relatives, and his group. He is intelligent, brave enough to take risks, able to choose and appoint qualified assistants in their fields and not hesitate to replace them when they fail to perform. Programs in their mission clearly realize the nation\'s prosperity, progress and intelligence in a safe and peaceful way of life.
The presidential candidates that we desire are not just politicians, but rather statesmen who uphold humanity with justice, respect and are capable of upholding the law indiscriminately. His views are far into the future and do not sacrifice long-term benefit for short-term popularity by offering entertaining momentary policies.
As a religious, but pluralistic nation in religion, ethnicity and race, we want a president who has no less religiosity, but is tolerant, respects differences, guarantees freedom of religion and belief, and rejects all forms of physical and verbal violence in religion. The presidential candidates also do not use religion as a vehicle to gain support by promoting divisive religious sentiments and emotions.
The ideal president is the one who is self-confident, optimistic about the future, communicative, and inspirational, able to inspire his people to work to support the success of the programs being offered so that people feel that it is their program, not just the president\'s program. This type of presidential candidate is also a humble presidential candidate, does not emphasize his selfhood, and is able to appreciate the work and achievements of others.
The president we are looking for is the one who has the ability to read and anticipate the rapid changes that occur in the world. He prepares his people to face global competition by creating a creative and innovative business climate by providing financial support and facilities for talented citizens and promising national and private research projects.
Of course there are still other general qualifications, such as excellent health and not physically and mentally disabled, which can hinder the performance and very heavy responsibility of a president. A president must be able to work optimally, not easy to complain and blame others if he fails, and be an example for subordinates and their citizens.
Are there ideal candidates?
It is not too wrong if we say that it is almost impossible to find a presidential candidate who meets all the above-mentioned ideal requirements, in a country that is experimenting with democracy.
Even if there are one or two citizens who meet all of the above criteria among 260 million Indonesians, it is likely that this type of person will never think of participating in an election contest. Because, he has no interest and courage to enter into political life which is known to be full of intrigue and friction.
As a result, citizens must be satisfied by choosing candidates who are deemed not to be too ideal, but approaching the ideal criteria. Or the general election frequently becomes an arena to choose someone with the least bad things among candidates who propose themselves: not the best among those who compete.
In a system of liberal democracy and open competition, when authentic information about the background of the contestants cannot be easily obtained, voters also often fall into erroneous imaginations about the candidate\'s character from his appearance in public, television, or other media. Moreover, if the contestants use the services of image-building experts to polish shortcomings in their original characters.
The election of Donald Trump as President of the United States is a recent example of how a person known to be a liar with zero state experience can win in a presidential election in a country that may be considered very mature in its democratic system. The Trump case has been and will continue to be reviewed for the next few years about how constituents are manipulated with campaign strategies which, among other things, use the latest analytical data technology about market trends, in this case the prospective voters.
When the era of ideology has passed and citizens tend to be more pragmatic in determining their choices with consideration of real benefits for their daily lives, the choice will fall on candidates who are considered to fulfill their expectations. Smarter citizens will not stop there. They will also consider whether the candidate\'s character, background, and track record can be relied upon to realize his campaign promise.
In a country like Indonesia, where the middle class has not been dominant in playing a decisive role in political competition and there are still many citizens who are confined to the elements of primordialism, the sentiments of religion, race, and ethnicity still have much influence in making choices. Realizing this, the presidential candidates who feel their track record, character, and achievements are not reliable enough to support their ideas and promises of life improvement would
design their campaign towards draining the emotions and primordial sentiments of the citizens rather than fighting to win voters\' reasoning.
Signs in that direction are more clearly visible before the eyes and, if we are careless, it has the risk of breaking down the harmony of the shared life which has been painstakingly built by the founders of this nation. The government, law enforcers, the General Election Commission, the Election Supervision Body, and mainstream media as well as civil society should not continue to stand by and let this unhealthy process go on without correction.
The militancy of those who are thirsty for power by justifying any means should not be underestimated. There are many examples of countries, which are damaged, because of the actions of political provocateurs, who do not care about the destruction of their nation by dividing the nation and creating animosity among fellow citizens. (Abdillah Toha, Political observer)
