Answering the Public Need

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

The 2019 general election is continuously publicized through various media, including on billboards such as the one in Tambakboyo field, Ambarawa district, Semarang regency, Central Java, on Friday (11/01/2019). Ahead of the election to be held in a few months, the issues of ethnicity, religion, tribe and intergroups (SARA) have attracted attention because they cause conflict.

The campaigns by the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are to soon enter an important phase, namely the presidential and vice-presidential candidate debate on Jan. 17.

Many parties hope that in the debate the two candidate pairs would explain their programs for overcoming the nation\'s problems. The presidential candidate programs could answer public anger over and need for information about, for example, the persistent spread of corruption, the threats of narcotics and terrorism that never ends, a lack of respect for human rights, the socio-economic disparities that remain large, the models for economic development, human resource development, security and defense strategy, international relations and tax policies.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has determined there are to be five debates between the presidential candidates, the vice-presidential candidates and the presidential candidate pairs together. Through the debates, the rivals can offer platforms and new approaches to solve the nation\'s problems and bring this nation toward the goals of the state, namely the welfare of the nation\'s life. The issues of welfare and justice are the main themes that the presidential and vice presidential candidates must answer.

The visions and missions that the candidate pairs have submitted to the KPU must be elaborated so that they are not just lists of activities to be carried out and they must also be sharpened to reveal how they plan to achieve the targets.

Based on a Kompas poll, 26.35 percent consider the visions and missions very important and 64.67 percent consider them important. That means that 90 percent of the public considers the president\'s vision and mission important. As many as 51.3 percent of the respondents also want to know the visions and missions to be carried out by the presidential candidates.

According to the Kompas poll, the candidate pairs should understand the public\'s desire to know their visions and missions if they are elected. The public does not want a campaign that spreads fear, fosters pessimism, or continues to produce false news to delegitimize candidate pairs or general election organizers.

For the incumbent, it is not enough to report what has been done, but also what is to be carried out in the next administration. The incumbent must be able to explain why the promises that were made in the 2014 general election campaign have not been realized or were disavowed.

For example, the presidential candidates should explain how they plan to eradicate the corruption that continues to be rampant in this country, which even Prabowo Subianto said had entered “stage four”, what programs are needed to clean up corruption in this country: whether revoking political rights, impoverishing corrupt officials, or imposing social work, or emphasizing prevention. The visions and missions of the two candidate pairs submitted to the KPU are still considered too normative. For eradicating corruption, their imaginations are still poor.

Through the debates, we hope the campaign would be more rational and not merely emotional.