Red Knitting White As Part of Indonesian Identity
By: Ismail) *
This year to be exact last April, political tension in Indonesia was very heated, public sentiment towards the figure of the state leader ceaselessly became a topic of conversation, both social, political, economic and even religious.
The 2019 election is the most tiring election, even though the KPU has officially announced and completed the national recapitulation of the presidential and legislative elections before May 21, 2019, the appointment of the elected President and Deputy President is still awaiting the results of the claim from the losing party to the Constitutional Court (MK)
In addition, we are also waiting for the establishment of new legislative institutions, namely the DPR, DPD, Provincial DPRD and Regency / City DPRD and MPR which will be formed from the DPR and DPD.
The Indonesian people are also waiting for the government to continue in accordance with the results of the presidential election, whatever the results and whoever is elected – hopefully can realize a new system of government that will be realized in a cabinet consisting of people who are truly experts, have integrity and are ready to work hard for the country’s prosperity this.
We certainly hope that the new government performance will not be disrupted by non-technical matters as an impact of the division of society due to differences in political choices in the election. Hopefully with the existing cabinet reforms, the government can embrace and accommodate the interests of all parties, so that the polarity that occurs such as religious or political nuances can be reunited, without the presence of 01 and 02 groups.
Do not let identity politics make the nation not get along, like the story of online taxi drivers who force their passengers down on the road just because the presidential candidate is different and he is not wearing hijab, this certainly does not reflect Indonesia’s values that uphold diversity.
This should be an evaluation for the political elite in building public narratives, not to let the political elite only pursue victory but neglect to give examples of how to compete in a healthy and elegant manner.
Of course all parties can participate in efforts to build Indonesia, with their respective disciplines, the struggle to unite Indonesia is indeed not an easy thing, for that all elements must be involved in knitting red and white which was torn apart by the urgency of simultaneous elections.
It is like, a red and white flag that had been torn apart by differences, it is time for us to knit back, religious politics that use religious symbols inappropriately, slander and hate speech may not happen again in the future. Consider this as a reflection of an identity politics emergency, because our single identity is Indonesia.
Building Indonesia is not only by building a great mindset to solve problems in Indonesia, demonstrating tolerance for other diverse Indonesian citizens is also one step to building Indonesia, because development is impossible if the sense of unity and brotherhood is torn apart just because of differences both SARA and Politics of Identity.
Cadres and political sympathizers should be aware of the values of the Pancasila, where the Pancasila contains morals that are the guiding principle of the nation in acting as an Indonesian citizen, because Pancasila is the sole identity of the Indonesian nation.
Our sense of Indonesianness is reflected in the Pancasila state ideology, so that the campaign in the upcoming legislative elections and the five-year presidential election should no longer be saturated with identity politics that divide the unity, but are livened up by strategy fights, competition and ideas offered by contestants politics, so there is no provocative or hoax narrative that is misleading the public.
Political campaign certainly must educate the life of the nation as a whole, so that with the campaign carried out by political figures and political parties, it will add to the political insight of the community to participate in existing political processes, such as participation in elections for example.
Indeed, the election in April 2019 did not escape the potential for complex conflicts if there was no awareness of the participants or election sympathizers to carry out campaigns in a dignified, orderly and obedient manner. So thus, it is fitting that we be able to restrain ourselves and still have a shared awareness that our identity is Indonesia.
) * The author is a sociopolitical observer