Knitting Unity After the 2019 Election, Millennial and Media Active Roles Are Necessary
By: Hanief Al-Amiri) *
For a long time, the Indonesian people have been known as a friendly and peaceful nation. Our society is known to be friendly and open to anyone. In fact, various cultures and traditions from the outside can be acculturated in harmony with local culture and traditions that have taken root in society. In addition, this nation which consists of various ethnicities, races, ethnicities, religions, is also able to live in harmony and peace in the frame of Unity in Diversity.
However, this well-known and peaceful nation is now beginning to get a record. Because, lately our people began to fight easily with each other. Instead of uniting and living in harmony, later we are even so easy to accuse each other, berate and attack each other just because of differences. Political competition among elites who spread disputes to the wider community, to the spread of radicalism-terrorism, has become a number of factors that helped create tension and conflict in the community.
This happened in the midst of rapid advances in information and communication technology, where news and news spread very quickly every day and anyone could easily express their opinions and feelings through social media. Since then, in the virtual world we have easily seen people chiding and fighting with each other just because of different views. Worryingly, infighting in the virtual world can often penetrate and influence the real world which then raises intolerant attitudes, even violence that some people display to pressure other groups.
We should move together to restore the face of friendliness, harmony and peace that had eroded in recent times. It’s time we make this nation back into a peaceful nation without conflict and quarrels. In this effort, young people have a strategic role to be able to move to instill values that can restore the nation’s friendly and peaceful face.
In addition to still having a great national idealism and energy to fight, young people also have more fresh ideas and ideas to be devoted to building peace in the community. On the one hand, young people also relatively have no historical burden of conflict. Unlike the first and second generations of the Indonesian people who sometimes still find it difficult to break away from the legacy of conflict and political friction that has happened in the past. These more open, advanced and creative young people can be used and mobilized to build a “new and progressive Indonesia”.
The new spirit of the young generation must be channeled to restore a harmonious, safe and peaceful life in the midst of society. The younger generation, or what is now popularly called the millennial generation, plays an important role in determining the extent to which peaceful civilizations can be created in society. This is not just because of the great potential stored in every young person, but also because in terms of population or number, the younger generation is dominating.
In this political year 2019 for example, the number of voters is dominated by millennials. The generation born in the period 1981-1999 will be 20-38 years old and the number will reach around 86 million. In other words, 48% of voters in the 2019 election are millennial. This is a very large number and can have a significant influence on the political atmosphere in the future. What the author wants to say is that the millennial generation that dominates the number of voters is expected to be able to take a leading role in creating a peaceful and cool electoral atmosphere.
Because this is important as a provision to rebuild harmony and peaceful life in the community. Young people must be able to set an example of how to give political support in a polite and civilized manner. In this modern and sophisticated era, people can easily access information, both from online news media, social media and other electronic media such as television and radio. While the media has a very important role in conveying information to the public because it contributes to the pattern of behavior and thinking of the community. While the community also needs to know how to properly manage information.
Let us together call on the media to continue to present balanced reporting and provide political education to the public after the simultaneous election April 17, 2019 and the court’s decision on the dispute over the Presidential Election. This is an opportunity for the media to reopen opportunities as much as possible to participate in political education. The national press is part of the fourth pillar of democracy which has a function as a medium of information, education, entertainment, and also social control.
Media workers (Press) should also focus on covering the electoral process held up to the appointment of presidential and vice-presidential winners of the 2019 election, where the General Election Commission (KPU) has officially established Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Ma’ruf Amin as presidents and representatives elected president on June 30, 2019. The determination was based on the results of the plenary meeting held three days after the trial of the dispute over the Presidential Election in the Constitutional Court (MK). The election of the elected President and Vice President of 2019 originating from a decision to hear the dispute over the 2019 Presidential Election by the Constitutional Court marked the end of the long drama of the 2019 Election.
Political choice in society is a natural thing. Whatever differences and disputes that arise during elections, should be immediately removed, and re-knit unity and unity. As an Indonesian citizen, and part of the NKRI, all layers and elements of society should participate immediately in maintaining kinship and peace and rejecting and preventing the occurrence of things that lead to the division of the nation. The media and the public need to be aware of any provocation from those who spread hoax news. It is very important to maintain and multiply positive and quality content because it is related to the young generation of the nation.
) * The author is an activist at the Institute library
