Flying High after Voting

· 6 minutes read

“Adopting democracy is relatively easy. Building a society that makes democracy run requires great work and effort.

“This is what we need to inherit. They, our founding fathers, desperately sacrificed themselves to build the nation and state, liberating it from the colonial ruler. The present generation must also work hard to free the people from poverty and backwardness. Education and enlightenment, that’s the big job ahead."

That is among the reflective views of renowned press figure Jakob Oetama, who co-founded Kompas with PK Ojong, in his foreword for the 2001 book 100 Tahun Bung Karno (Bung Karno’s 100th Anniversary). In the article titled “Berdialog dengan Sejarah” (Dialogue with History), Jakob Oetama added, “Berkeadaban [being civilized] is a term that was repeatedly used by Bung Karno, including in his speech ‘Lahirnya Pancasila’ [The Birth of Pancasila] (Being diverse and civilized; living together as a civilized nation). Isn’t there a similarity with the big task called developing a civil society?”

The two messages above resonate strongly today as we flock to the polling stations (TPS) to exercise our voting rights. More than that, we go to the polling stations in a show of our contribution to the effort of having leaders and legislators who are expected to have the ability to realize the challenge of freeing the people from poverty and backwardness, as mentioned by Bung Karno.

Yes, the dust and noise of the presidential and legislative election campaigns quieted down and finished four days ago. Today is voting

day. In the past six months, the country has been unusually boisterous, creating an impression that Indonesians are highly politicized (so highly politicized). If this is not a problem, there are other questions: Can all the hustle and bustle transform into a quality election and can voters go to the polling stations with joy?

It is our hope that the presidential and legislative elections will be honest, fair and smooth, until the final results. If that happens, after April 17 our nation can continue its stepping, moving forward to the future with firmness, even though there is a pile of work to be done. This is where the two essences of quality elections must be tested. Besides being safe and fair, the other is having quality leaders who benefit the people and whose presence could improve the lives of the people.

Regarding the praxis of democracy, we have made it happen through elections. However, one thing still needs to be answered: Have we shown adequate culture to accompany the above practices? Or have we practiced it in a civilized manner, as desired by Bung Karno?

Does a political contest have to be colored with hoaxes, disinformation, even slander? This might be the first self-assessment after the election. Related to this, we can re-read the opinion piece of journalist Sindhunata published in this daily on Monday (4/15/2019). The conclusion that we can take is that lies make democracy misused and misleading.

The next day, we were reminded by political science professor Mochtar Pabottingi about the need for us to have qualified insights to guide us toward the polling stations. We can clearly capture the message of the two scholars.

For political scientists, the 2019 Presidential and Legislative Elections are fields of knowledge endless to explore and assess. For example, whether simultaneous elections are the right choice for Indonesia or whether the long campaign period makes divisions among voters get widened or if there are other more basic causes.

We are enlightened by the philosophical thinking of the scientists.

However, after the voting and the final results are later released by the KPU, the elected leaders must face concrete problems. One topic that we are delighted to capture from the presidential debate is the economic issue. This is also discussed in “The World in 2019” published by The Economist, London.

We still remember the optimism, which is widely repeated in welcoming the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia, that our country will be in the top five or seven countries in the world. However, if we look at today\'s reality, with the high level of dependence on imports, including the most basic commodities such as salt and rice, the vulnerability of the rupiah to the dollar, as well as the dynamics of the economy and international trade, we can imagine the hard work of our leaders to achieve such a level.

We may have seen that hard work is not enough without smart work. Without corrections to the work program for the next five years, we might only be able to give new hope to the media and foreign institutions, which often mislead us by calling us “Indonesia, with a great potential”.

Today, nations in the world roll up their sleeves to welcome the arrival of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. Various new research was undertaken and laboratories were built, accompanied by a substantial outpouring of funds to master science and technology that was determined by the 4.0 era. The new world order will be marked by artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT).

We have heard a lot about demographic bonuses, namely the large number of Indonesian workers in the productive age. On the other hand, we hear there are records, there are still many in our workforce who are only graduates of junior high school. Can we respond to the challenges of the digital economy with human capital that has limited education? We don\'t want to fall into pessimism because this editorial theme is “Flying High” post-17 April. We make a commitment to develop human resources to the fullest.

Reading the work of Klaus Schwab, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the demand for highly qualified people is a necessity. By calling “supercomputers in the pocket”, for example, he stressed, the fourth revolution was different in scale, scope and complexity from any revolution that had ever existed before.

Hopefully, it is enough already that politics has drugged us this past year. We return to debt and unfinished work that we have to settle. If we continue to get overwhelmed in politics, inevitability one morning we will be surprised to know that a superpower has reached Mars or our financial system has been paralyzed by a digital attack.

We hope that the scene we see today, since morning, is fellow citizens who joyfully head to the polling stations to exercise their right to vote. On the way home from the polling stations, we hope that they have a little reflection: This is the time Indonesian people strengthen their solidarity and fly high.

Editor:

kompascetak