The political temperature in Indonesia is starting to warm up ahead of the 2024 General Election (Election), of course the role of youth organizations should be optimized because youth organizations play a role in creating elections with peace and integrity.
Elections are an integral part of democratization by involving the public to elect leaders who are able to represent the identity of the Indonesian nation. With this election, of course the people participate in determining the direction of government in the future.
The 2024 simultaneous elections from the implementation aspect have not yet started, but the contestation aspect is visible to the naked eye and the frenetic five-year democratic party has already been felt. Several national figures have begun to declare themselves to run as candidates for president, governor, and regent/mayor candidate. Of course there are also a number of figures who will advance in the legislative election nominations.
The increased involvement of the community, especially young people in overseeing the five-year democratic party of the upcoming 2024 Simultaneous Elections is a great hope in encouraging public participation. The Youth Pledge reminds us that youth are active subjects and have a very important role and influence in the life of the nation and state.
All of this needs to be continued for youth in the 2024 simultaneous elections to not only become spectators at a democratic party, or not only vote, but participate in participatory supervision. Of course this aims to create good quality elections. Therefore, the role of youth organizations is also needed to invite the younger generation to be involved in elections.
Moreover, Indonesia as a democratic country places youth as the subject of government, unlike monarchical or communist countries which tend to be authoritarian and place youth as the object of government. Because youth is the subject of government, the higher youth participation in state government, the higher youth participation in state government, the better the quality of democracy in that country.
During the 2019 election, we learned that society is still not fully mature in democracy. The existence of the terms cebong and kampret is evidence that society is divided into two groups which resulted in quite a long horizontal conflict. Meanwhile, people in Indonesia still cannot understand each other how important it is to maintain unity among the nation’s children amidst differences in choices.
With the energy that is still passionate, members of youth organizations can involve themselves as organizers of elections at various levels, starting from the regional level to the village level. The benefits that can be obtained are empirical and technical knowledge regarding the administration of elections. Young people who are still lacking in the salt and salt of political life must be aware that they will be bombarded with various news without having to look for it.
In the supervision process, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) will prioritize the prevention process, because if the prevention process is carried out at the beginning, then this can minimize indications of election violations. As agents of change, youth organizations (OKP) must realize security, and reject all forms of division. This is a strong determination to succeed in the 2024 elections.
In a big event like an election, of course no one will know whether this event will take place peacefully or not, but that does not mean that the narrative of peace cannot be spread and then implemented. So that the media has a role to strengthen peaceful messages and provide solutions to conflict events and not exacerbate the situation among electoral stakeholders.
Bawaslu chairman Rahmat Bagja hopes that the upcoming 2024 election will be more peaceful and secure. Bawaslu will further enhance its synergy with all stakeholders in 2023. This indicates that the Election does not only belong to the organizers, but to all Indonesian people. So that the community should have a responsibility to maintain the atmosphere of the election so as to avoid various potential chaos such as the spread of hoax news or black campaigns.
On a different occasion, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said that experience has taught us that the moment of holding elections is a time when national unity is tested. Society has the potential to be polarized due to the heat of political tension. Therefore, unification of steps is needed so that the implementation of the upcoming 2024 elections does not cause tension and potential conflicts in society. Ma’ruf also advised, even though the election participants are currently competing to win, the winning strategy needs to prioritize national unity.
In contests such as the presidential or regional elections, conflicts between candidates still occur frequently and this involves both supporters in the real world, such as intimidation by sympathizers because of different t-shirts, as well as intimidation in cyberspace which is often colored by hoax news and attempts to delegitimize the KPU as an independent institution .
Therefore OKP has a role in creating peaceful and integrity elections, this is because youth organizations have youth members with fresh minds and energy.
