Jakarta — It becomes very dangerous if the practice of identity politics still occurs in the 2024 General Election. Therefore, the community must continue to be involved in conducting surveillance.
PPP Chairman, Mardiono said that in fact all creatures have an identity inherent in them.
“Regarding identity, yes, identity is all creatures have and must have. If someone doesn’t have an identity, it’s dangerous for them,” he said.
Then, according to him, identity cannot be interpreted as narrowly as a person’s name, but where he was born, what his nationality to what his religion is, is still classified as identity.
“My identity was born from my mother’s womb, my father. This is my identity. My name is Muhammad Mardiono. This is my identity. My citizen is an Indonesian citizen. This is my identity. My religion is Islam, this is my identity,” continued Mardiono.
With the basic nature of identity which is something that is inherent in creatures, so it cannot be denied that someone must have an identity.
“So one must have an identity,” he said.
Even though it is inherent in each individual, according to the Ketum PPP it is absolutely not permissible in political practice to use identity and pit one against the other.
“What is not allowed is the identity used for politics which clashes one identity with another. Well, clashing is what is not allowed. Well, including in politics, “he explained.
Meanwhile, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) stated that it is very important to have efforts to prevent identity politics.
Bawaslu member, Herwyn JH Malonda admitted that in the current era of information technology flows, identity politics can be prevented by working with Kominfo and social media stakeholders.
“We will also enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Minister of Communication and Informatics regarding monitoring and prevention of internet content on SARA hoax news, identity politics. Also, building cooperation with social media stakeholders, one of which is Meta,” he said.
According to him, the politicization of SARA usually arises due to socio-economic inequality in society, so that identity is very easily used as a determining factor to ignite group solidarity.
Not only that, according to Herwyn, it turns out that there is also a role for certain political elites whose way of communication still alludes to mass psychology.
“The issue of SARA has become very massive and has spread to the public sphere because it is produced and capitalized on by political elites, such as political consultants, members of political parties, campaign teams, and certain mass organization elites, thus impacting social tensions,” he said.
The role of the community is also very important to be able to supervise the election process, especially regarding the practice of identity politics.
“Do not forget that there is a role for the community in election monitoring activities, to detect and report suspected violations, especially related to the use of SARA issues in the campaign,” he said.