By: Ridho Pratama *)
Towards the end of 2018, Prabowo seemed busy with various agendas to meet with his cadres. Some of the sentences he made often made a commotion to make it a kind of blunder for the popularity of the number 2 presidential candidate.
Of course, the Boyolali community still remembers when Prabowo said “Look at Boyolali” in his speech, the Boyolali community felt that the sentence was insulting and as if stating that the Boyolali people were poor and had never entered malls and luxury hotels.
Turning from “Look at Boyolali”, Prabowo also uses diction which he feels is not soothing. In the Gerindra National Party conference held at the Bogor Sentul International Convention Center (SICC), December 17, 2018, Prabowo in his speech again issued a statement that made many people excited. The statement is that “Indonesia can become extinct if we lose”.
“If we lose, this country can become extinct. The Indonesian elite has always been disappointing, always failing to carry out the people’s mandate. We can’t lose. We can’t lose. If we lose, this country can become extinct, “Prabowo said in front of his supporters.
The statement suddenly tickled the ears of many people, because Prabowo had not only issued a statement about the destruction of Indonesia. Previously he had also stated the prediction of the dissolution of Indonesia in 2030 which was found to be sourced from a novel called Ghost Fleet.
The Indonesian expression will be extinct if Prabowo – the password not selected is one sentence that is not appropriate to be delivered. Because maintaining the integrity of Indonesia is not only the role of the President, but of all Indonesian people. This certainly raises a question, what does an extinct country mean?
If what Indonesia means extinct is related to the Indonesian economy, then we can reflect on the global economic crisis that has happened before, precisely the Indonesian economy is still strong. In addition, in 2018, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani was named the world’s best finance minister by the Global Market Magazine. So with this achievement, is the Indonesian Extinction threat still relevant for its political interests?
Indonesia is a great nation so that whoever becomes a leader must certainly develop the nation’s potential and not stimulate the pessimistic attitude of the Indonesian people.
In the fight for the upcoming presidential election, a campaign with a “threat” tone is not ethical. At present Indonesia has entered the collaboration era, where cross-sector cooperation can be sought to drive the circulation of the people’s economy. This kind of thing should be echoed rather than spread the threat of Extinct Indonesia.
Indonesia has entered the age of 73 years, since independence was proclaimed until now our country has been tested by a variety of challenges and events, including several rebellions. But Indonesia is also not extinct and still stands, of course, with this foundation Prabowo’s words related to Indonesia will become extinct if Prabowo – Unselected password is something that is hyperbole.
People can judge someone from speech and word selection when someone is on the pulpit. It is proper for prospective leaders in this country to campaign by sharing strategies and vision and mission to lead the nation. Don’t provoke anger with threatening and scary sentences.
Indonesia has held numerous electoral events many times, and until now there has been no history if there is a figure who loses in a democratic party and then a country or region will become extinct or dissolve. This is because the cause of the extinction of the state must be preceded by symptoms or serious indications that threaten the existence of the state. Until now, Indonesia can still demonstrate its existence by organizing international events, such as the Asian Games and Asian Paragames 2018 successfully. Logically, a country that is extinct or almost extinct will certainly not be able to hold this international event.
The Indonesian people certainly expect improvements in various sectors such as the economy, development infrastructure, education, health and others. This certainly requires an attitude of optimism, not fear and shackles of pessimism. In campaigning, Prabowo tends to use sensational diction, and in criticizing the government there is very little solution. Before it was bustling with the Indonesian phrase Extinct, the presidential candidate for the pair Prabowo – Sandi had produced a number of phrases such as politics of genderuwo political lies, the appearance of Boyolali, ATM-thin tempeh, incompetent imports, and most recently Indonesia Extinct.
Seeing the diction turned out to only make noise and make public opinion worse. Such a situation certainly disrupts the quality of substantial democracy. Dictations in campaigns that lack ideas and strategies will also reduce people’s respect for more substantive issues. The strategy of the political campaign carried out by Prabowo made the community be led to cheap issues and trivial issues. The process of fighting ideas is less attractive than playing diction and loudly criticizing without a solution.
*) The author is a UNJ student