Public Awaits Detailed Explanations from Presidential Candidates

· 5 minutes read

The public is waiting on a more detailed take on issues of ideology and governance in the presidential debate on Saturday. Both candidates’ vision and mission documents lack details on these issues.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS— Detailed program elaborations from presidential candidates during the debate on Saturday , especially on issues of clean government and strengthening state ideology Pancasila, will help voters make their choices in the election. Exploration on the ideas is necessary as both candidates’ vision, mission and program statements is lacking.

The debate between candidates Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto on Saturday will touch on issues of ideology, government, defense and security as well as international relations. The result of a Kompas R&D survey on March 26 and 27, involving 509 respondents in 16 major cities, showed that respondents saw clean government and the strengthening of the state ideology as two important issues.

In their respective vision, mission and program documents submitted to the General Elections Commission (KPU), Jokowi-Ma’ruf Amin and Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno included these issues. To strengthen state ideology, for instance, Jokowi and Ma’ruf said they would optimize the role of the Agency for the Implementation of State Ideology Pancasila (BPIP), prepare standardized materials and learning methods on Pancasila and evaluate regulations that contradict it. Meanwhile, Prabowo and Sandiaga offered to establish a Pancasila economy research group and a consortium of higher education institutions to teach Pancasila economy.

On clean government, Prabowo and Sandiaga offered to create a smart government system based on information technology. The pair also floated the idea of quality bureaucratic reform.

Jokowi and Ma’ruf made similar statements and included IT-based workplaces, e-government, online public services and a transparent civil servant recruitment system.

Persiapan panggung untuk debat keempat calon presiden dalam Pemilu 2019 yang diselenggarakan KPU di Hotel Shangri-La Jakarta, Jumat (29/3/2019). Tema yang diusung pada debat keempat adalah ideologi, pemerintahan, keamanan, serta hubungan internasional.

Similar

A Kompas R&D study found that these promises were similar to those offered by both Jokowi and Prabowo during the 2014 presidential debates, specifically those on June 9 and 22, 2014.

On ideology, five years ago, both Jokowi and Prabowo reaffirmed that Pancasila should be safeguarded as a state ideology at all costs. On clean government, both talked about using IT as well as an open government.

With respect to this, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) professor Azyumardi Azra said on Friday that he wanted both Jokowi and Prabowo to explain their programs in detail during the debate.

Azyumardi added that, thus far, there was too much rhetoric in discussions on state ideology. This is despite the fact that that public wants to see a stance taken by the presidential candidates on these issues. The public, for instance, wants to know what the candidates’ plans are to revitalize and resocialize Pancasila.

“Both candidates must elaborate the general points of what they will do in the next five years. Rhetoric alone will not be enough. [Candidates need to explain] what they will do, what approaches they will

have and what political steps they will take so that the guidelines can be made functional as a program,” Azyumardi said.

Gadjah Mada University political lecturer Mada Sukmajati said candidates needed to elaborate on state ideology in the context of global politics. This is important considering the rise of populist ideologies in many countries.

The public is anxiously awaiting elaborations from the candidates on how they see populism as a global phenomenon and how Indonesia under their leadership will counter it.

Meanwhile, on government issues, Azyumardi said bureaucratic reform should be accelerated so that the country could compete globally. Currently, clean government has not yet been achieved, as shown by the high number of public officials arrested for corruption.

“The public always asks how the candidates will eradicate corruption in legislative, executive and judicial bodies. This is because a clean government is major capital when it comes to global competitiveness. [Candidates] must also convey how cooperation between the anticorruption agency and civil society is fostered,” Azyumardi said.

Defense and security

On defense and security, the Kompas poll shows that respondents expect the incoming administration to prioritize improving military and police professionalism, resolve horizontal conflicts and increase the quality of weapon systems. On international relations, the three issues perceived to be the most important are Indonesia’s role in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the president’s relations with other world leaders and the safety of Indonesian migrant workers.

On defense and security issues, Jokowi-Ma’ruf national campaign team spokesman Ace Hasan Syadzily said Jokowi would continue to reform the military and the police. This is to improve both institutions’ professionalism, increase public trust, reduce corruption and the culture of violence as well as strengthen military-police synergy.

Meanwhile, Prabowo-Sandiaga national campaign team spokesperson Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said Prabowo would improve the professionalism of the military and the police to achieve just law enforcement.

On international relations, Ace said, Indonesia had been actively engaging with other countries in international forums to establish world peace.

Dahnil said Prabowo would improve on Indonesia’s communications and dignity on the global stage. The main issues that Prabowo would propose to the international community were Indonesia’s commitment to bridge the gap between Islam and the West for the sake of world peace.

(LAS/REK/SAN)

Editor:

kompascetak