By: Devi Putri Anjani )*
All elements of society must be able and continue to increase their own self-awareness to be able to counteract the practice of money politics, especially at the time of the upcoming 2024 General Elections (Elections), because the negative impacts will be felt a lot later.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) launched a campaign entitled ‘Hajar Serangan Fajar’ at the holding of a democratic party and political contestation, the upcoming 2024 General Election (Pemilu). The campaign continues to be intensified, especially when approaching the election.
The Deputy for Education and Community Participation (Dikmas) of the KPK, Wawan Wardiana explained that from a study that had been carried out by the KPK since 2018 ago or during the simultaneous implementation of Regional Head Elections (Pilkada), it was found that as many as 95% (percent) of the public considered the candidate they will vote for must have a lot of money.
It is very clear that of course what happened and also the facts and facts on the ground that are attached to the community is something that is very unhealthy, especially in an effort to be able to continue to reduce the number of corruption in the country. In fact, the research from the KPK seems to have a strong correlation with how research has been conducted by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University (Fisipol UGM) which also revealed that the existence of a dawn attack during the General Election has been termed as ‘already a culture’. ‘.
There is also the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) which released the results of their study in 2019, namely that as many as 47.4% (percent) of the public apparently still confirmed that the practice of money politics in the 2019 elections still existed and was found easily. Then, as much as 46.7% (percent) among the public also thought that money politics was a natural thing to do.
Wawan emphasized that the true practice of money politics would certainly make politics very costly. Not just spending money, but political costs must also exist. If you look at how the KPK study and research from UGM, the sad thing is that political costs are being used for other things, namely ‘buying’ votes and also attracting sympathizers to want to vote for the candidate in question.
Talking further about presumably which groups from society are capable and very likely to become easy targets for the practice of money politics or also commonly known as dawn attacks during elections, it turns out that the results of a study by the KPK together with Deep Indonesia, from a number of voters in in 2019 who were used as respondents, as many as 72% (percent) they had accepted money politics.
When dissected again, of the 72% (percent), it turned out that as many as 82% (percent) of them were women aged 35 years and over, or also commonly known as mothers or mothers. Of course, there are several factors which are the reasons why these mothers get the highest score as recipients of money politics, groceries or in other forms.
Some of these factors clearly lie in economic needs, then there is pressure from other parties, such as when the party giving the dawn attack such as the distribution of money or groceries is a respected person in the community such as the head of the RT, this clearly creates a feeling of uneasiness. delicious alone or in the concept of the Javanese language is known as the taste of ‘ewuh pakewuh’ or feel free not to accept it.
The hope is very big, of course, in the implementation of the upcoming 2024 election, that people who still think that the practice of money politics is normal can change that view. Therefore, it is also important to provide various kinds of education or socialization and anti-money politics campaigns, in which the intensification of the campaign cannot be carried out only through one institution, but requires assistance from all elements of society.
On another occasion, the Southeast Sulawesi Province Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu Sultra) also continues to move to increase awareness of the rise of money politics ahead of the 2024 Election. According to the Chairman of the Southeast Sulawesi Bawaslu, Iwan Rompo, the voters who are most concerned about being targeted by money politics are voters beginner.
This is because they are a group that is considered very vulnerable to being instigated by temptation and the lure of a sum of money as a dowry to be able to vote for a particular candidate. Therefore, socialization and education regarding the bad effects if this practice continues must be taught from an early age.
Ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections, of course, the contestants will use many methods and strategies so that they can get lots of votes from the public. In fact, often the strategies used are dirty methods such as the practice of money politics. Thus, self-awareness from all elements of society is also very important to be able to counteract such practices.
)* The author is a Media Ambassador Contributor