By: Dina Kahyang Putri )*
The general election (Pemilu) is an event in which the people choose their own president, as well as members of the legislature. The election took place with great fanfare. Especially when the people can vote for a presidential candidate (Capres) and their own party. The people promised to always maintain unity and harmony ahead of the 2024 elections, and run elections that are peaceful and free of hoaxes.
The 2024 election is planned to be held on February 14, 2024. But don’t let people fight on social media because they are too fanatical in supporting certain parties and presidential candidates during the campaign until after the election. This incident should not be repeated in the next election.
Wonosobo Regent Afif Nurhidayat appealed to his citizens not to fight during the election. Don’t let different colors (different choices) become clashes. In fact, there were fights between villages. Like during the last election, the two presidential candidates got along. But the residents actually quarreled.
In a sense, society must maintain harmony and unity ahead of and during the upcoming 2024 elections. Don’t let it get into fights and trigger fights. Differences in choice are commonplace in democracies and do not need to be debated, let alone to the point of animosity over the years.
Peace must also be maintained because the campaign period can increase emotions and make the situation even hotter. Therefore, the public must remember that elections and pre-elections are carried out peacefully. Even though the presidential candidates were not fighting, their supporters were fighting, both in the real world and in cyberspace, and the community prevented this incident from happening again.
If you look in the mirror from the 2014 and 2019 elections, there was hostility in cyberspace and the situation was so hot that there were bad nicknames from each of the presidential candidate supporting camps at that time. Don’t let this happen again because people should be adults and leave hostilities. Elections must be fair (honest and fair) and uphold peace in Indonesia.
Hostilities must be abolished because they can be used by provocateurs and individuals who want to take advantage of adversity. Do not let there be social chaos because of their actions. Therefore, the community must play a major role in creating peaceful elections, so that there are no riots that lead to brawls and can result in casualties.
In order to succeed in the 2024 elections, commitment from all parties is needed to maintain harmony and peace. Support from the community, ministries and security forces is also needed so that the elections run smoothly and peacefully. If the election goes smoothly, it will be profitable because there are no fraudulent dramas or even heartbreaking tragedies that accompany the 2024 election procession.
Director of Binmas Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Pol. Badya Wijaya stated that religious communities in Jakarta are obliged to maintain harmony ahead of the 2024 Election. The public must be aware of maintaining unity even though they differ in their choices. During the election, they should exercise their right to vote and no one can abstain from voting (white group).
The community must always remember to maintain harmony, unity and peace during elections. You do this by taking care of yourself, both in the real world and in cyberspace, and not making suspicious statuses or attacking other parties. Don’t let social media become hot during and after the election because of excessive fanaticism for a particular presidential candidate or legislative candidate.
Excessive fanaticism gives rise to blind love and this is neither good nor healthy for the psychological condition of the people, both supporters of the presidential candidate and those who are not. It’s okay to have love, but don’t go so far as to accuse other presidential candidates of doing bad things or picking up on their mistakes. Communities need to be reminded to maintain peace, not to inflame hostility.
The public must be reminded to maintain peace before and after the election, both in the real world and in cyberspace. Don’t just pretend that cyberspace is ‘only’ and then there are those who curse other presidential candidates as they please. The reason is because he can be subject to the ITE Law because of his status on social media and being labeled a provocateur by other netizens.
Meanwhile, Acting Mayor of Yogyakarta Sumadi asked all residents of the City of Yogyakarta to cooperate in creating a peaceful and harmonious 2024 Election. He hopes that the 2024 election will not be colored by religious politics, SARA and money politics.
The government is trying to create safe and comfortable conditions when holding the 2023-2024 elections. Democratic parties will avoid money politics, hoax information, and voter participation as desired.
In a sense, ahead of the general election, people must create peace by avoiding hoaxes. The reason is because the influence of hoaxes is very large and can mislead people’s minds, especially those who are still lay people. If there is an election hoax, it will be very detrimental and make the central government and regional governments dizzy, because the public will make false accusations.
Society is obliged to maintain peace, harmony and unity ahead of the 2024 Election. Do not even fight in the real world and cyberspace just because of differences in the choice of presidential candidates and parties. Differences are commonplace in democracies and each person has an obligation to respect the political choices of others.
)* The author is a contributor to Persada Institute
