Presidential Candidate who Strengthens the People

The presidential candidates who will run in the 2024 election are becoming clearer. Three figures have been nominated by political parties, namely Anies Baswedan, Prabowo Subianto, and Ganjar Pranowo.

KOMPAS/NINO CITRA ANUGRAHANTO

President Joko Widodo and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo during an interview after Eid al-Fitr prayers, at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Surakarta, Surakarta City, Central Java, Saturday (22/4/2023).

There are also several political parties that have asked their party leaders to run for president.

However, some changes are still possible in the next six months. The formal registration of presidential and vice presidential candidates with the General Elections Commission (KPU) will only be open from 19 Oct. to 25 Nov. 2023. Will these political parties or electoral alliances still be registering their three nominated candidates then, or will other names still emerge?

At this stage, cooperation between political parties is still fluid and has not solidified yet. Furthermore, the choice of vice presidential candidates still remains uncertain. However, since the three figures all have high electability rates, consistently scoring above 10 percent in many surveys, and have been nominated by eligible political parties or alliances, there is a high likelihood that all three will be competing in the election. Competition is expected to become even more intense.

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Ir. Soekarno once warned that elections shouldn’t be regarded as a contest because it would divide the nation. In practice, however, fierce competition always occurs every five years. The arena hasn’t even opened and the referee hasn’t blown the whistle, but competition outside the arena is even fiercer.

Notes from previous elections indicate that participants have event competed using any means necessary, by both their own teams, shadow teams, or borrowing hands from other parties. Money politics, violent politics, legal pressure, identity politics: all have been done in order to gain power, regardless of dividing the people. The residual effects have been felt for almost a decade.

KOMPAS/HAS/RON

(left to right) Ganjar Pranowo, Prabowo Subianto and Anies Baswedan.

If the spirit of unity in diversity is not nurtured, this highly diverse, archipelagic country is highly vulnerable to disintegration. If this country becomes divided, others will take advantage of it because it is rich in natural resources. Meanwhile, its people will continue to fight, remain ignorant, and be impoverished.

Hoaxes and misinformation related to the 2024 elections are circulating widely on social media at present. Meanwhile, regulations on these have not yet been established. The KPU regulation on campaigning only applies during the campaign period from 28 Nov. 2023 to 10 Feb. 2024.

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Hoping that political parties and campaign teams will compete in a fully ethical manner is very difficult. "Politicians were mostly people who’d had too little morals and ethics," George R.R. Martin criticized. Election organizers should act more quickly and firmly to anticipate this issue. The people, as voters, also need to start paying attention to the presidential candidates, political parties, and their campaign teams: who is bold enough to act firmly, and who will allow this to happen.

The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election, while a statesman thinks about the next generation (James Freeman Clarke, 1810-1888). We must choose not just politicians but also statesmen who have a long-term vision for the nation.

This article was translated by Tenggara Strategics.