Jakarta — Member of the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), Lolly Suhenty stated that preventing the politicization of SARA is the same as ensuring the quality of democracy is getting better.
According to him, how to prevent and take action when violations occur is very important.
“This is the right momentum for Bawaslu to ensure we are strong in prevention. The best effort to ensure the quality of our democracy is getting better, of course, is seen from how we take precautions and take action if there are violations,” he explained.
On another occasion, Bawaslu member Totok Hariyono stated that his party was handling the politicization of SARA and identity politics by means of prevention.
With prevention efforts being made, namely giving warnings to election participants so they do not violate, is part of the concept of mutual cooperation elections.
“We do prevention first then take action, that’s part of the concept of mutual cooperation elections,” he explained.
According to him, the practice of politicizing SARA and identity politics is a real threat and must be avoided.
This is because the politicization of SARA, for Totok, will inevitably lead to divisions in the Indonesian people.
“The two of them will certainly give birth to a sharp difference. So this is what we hope that political identity politics will not be used in this election process,” said Totok at the Grand Sahid Hotel, Jakarta, Saturday (25/3/2023).
The Bawaslu member then hopes that later, the competition for the 2024 Election will not be colored by statesmen who instead use differences and identities as their political tools.
Totok added that his true identity is something that is a gift from God, so it really shouldn’t be used as a weapon to ride his interests in politics.
“Because identity is given, a direct gift from God that we cannot refuse. I want tribes from Java, Bali, Irian can’t refuse. I am Muslim, Hindu, Christian, also from birth,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Acting Secretary General of Bawaslu, La Bayoni explained that discussions with religious leaders were able to come up with ideas in an effort to realize peaceful and quality elections.
“So reflecting on this, we (Bawaslu) took the initiative to conduct an FGD,” he said.
For your information, the discussion this time was attended by figures from Muhammadiyah, the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), the Presidium of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference (KWI), the Spiritual Council of the Indonesian Confucian High Council of Religion (MATAKIN), Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia (PHDI, Representative of the People Indonesian Buddhists (WALUBI), and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).