By: Arif Budiman )*
The face of democracy in the country will really be tarnished if the practice of money politics, especially ahead of the general elections or when the 2024 elections themselves are still taking place in society. Therefore, all elements of the nation must be able to jointly increase their self-awareness.
In order to continue to maintain integrity as well as fairness in the whole process of upholding the principles of democracy in Indonesia, it is indeed very important for all parties to be able to be actively involved in joint efforts to overcome and also prevent the practice of money politics which seriously undermines the contestation process. politics and democratic parties in the upcoming 2024 general election (Pemilu).
It cannot be denied that so far the practice of money politics has become a very serious threat to efforts to uphold the principles of democracy in the country, including seriously threatening the principles of justice, equality and threatening transparency in elections.
Because of this, the practice of money politics is very dangerous, so it is very obligatory for all elements of society to continue to unite and also have a sense of responsibility to fight this practice with a very strong commitment and collectively.
Regarding how threatening the practice of money politics is for the sustainability of democracy in Indonesia, Chairperson of the Central Aceh Independent Electoral Commission (KIP), Sertaila explained that indeed so far it has been known together that usually people who tend to have an awareness of how dangerous the practice of money politics are are owned by members of society. at the upper middle level.
However, even though this awareness tends to be owned by people at the middle and upper levels, it does not rule out the possibility that this awareness can continue to be raised and also transmitted to all levels of society at various levels so that it can generate enthusiasm to be able to fight against the practice of money politics. .
Therefore, for the wider community, it is also important that there is a lot of socialization as well as awareness or education about how to do politics while continuing to maintain the dignity of upholding the principles of democracy in Indonesia, by not selling their voting rights at all to some individual election participants who exchange their voting rights. by using money.
Moreover, supervision must also be really focused and strictly carried out by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu RI), but if supervision is only left to one institution, it can be said that it will also be difficult, so that all elements of the nation must participate in supervising how maximum enforcement of the principles of democracy in the archipelago.
Every general election participant, whether from a political party (Parpol) or the voters themselves must also be able to continue to closely monitor each other so that there are no more practices of money politics in society.
In addition, strict supervision should also be carried out by all candidate success teams (timses) and party success teams. All of these parties have an obligation to continue to supervise and jointly guard the success of the election without the practice of money politics.
For information, indeed in the last few years, the practice of money politics itself has become a very serious concern in a number of countries in the world, including in Indonesia. How could it not be, because this practice involves the abuse of financial power to be able to influence voters, candidates or also be able to influence the outcome of the general election itself.
With the continuing practice of money politics, various kinds of principles in elections, namely direct, general, free, honest and fair (Luberjurdil) will of course be very difficult to implement optimally.
Money politics itself means that there is a practice of giving cash, gifts or material rewards in any form to voters or to prospective leaders as a form of political bribery. When this is done, of course it greatly affects the integrity of the implementation of elections and is also automatically able to reduce the public’s sense of trust in democratic institutions.
Therefore, both the Government of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), political parties, prospective leaders, voters to the mass media as well as civil society organizations (mass organizations) should continue to strengthen their commitment to each other to be able to overcome this practice and ensure that the implementation of the General Election can run smoothly. clean and fair.
Awareness of the practice of money politics in the implementation of the General Elections in the upcoming 2024 should be continuously echoed and maintained by all parties. Because it really tarnishes the face of democracy in Indonesia and also makes the integrity of the implementation of political contestation down.
)* The author is a contributor to Nusantara Reading Room
