Yogyakarta, July 20th 2023─The Election Corner of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Universitas Gadjah Mada (EC FISIPOL UGM) was held by FISIPOL Leadership Forum (FLF) entitled “Can We Save Democracy in Indonesia?”. On this occasion, the speaker is a politician and general chairman of the Democratic Party, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, or often called AHY.
The event was opened by the Dean of FISIPOL UGM Wawan Mas’udi who said that the Fisipol Leadership Forum (FLF) is a forum to present figures who have ideas and strong leadership.
The event hosted by Yulida Pangastuti (ldcturer at FISIPOL UGM), AHY stressed the importance of protecting democracy from threats and challenges that can undermine democracy in Indonesia. AHY also explained how the current rulers often harass people’s political rights, whereas his party is also victims of this mugging.
1) Titok Hariyanto, Chair of Atmawidya Alteration Indonesia; 2) Mahesti Hasanah, lecturer of FISIPOL UGM; 3) Pratiwi Yudha, Head of Dema FISIPOL UGM.
Titok Hariyanto reflected on the importance of having a more robust democratic dialogue discussing the foundations of democracy. Fundamental matters such as political understanding for the general public need to be discussed more, so that discussions about democracy are not only about elections and the electoral sector.
Pratiwi Yudha as a student representative expressed her disquiet about the decline and stagnation of democracy in Indonesia, as well as the lack of dialectical battles within parties to filter candidates who will advance as representatives of political parties in elections. Pratiwi said that political parties play an important role in promoting democracy education to the public.
Mahesti Hasanah explained the importance of policies that support gender equality in Indonesia. For her, democracy without equality is a democracy that is not substantial, and Indonesia has a lot of homework on gender equality. Finally, Mahesti also believes that Indonesia needs to align economic growth with environmental growth.
The discussion proceeded interactively which was then closed by closing statements from each discussant regarding important points in pushing democracy to be much better. Finally, AHY hopes that the younger generation will be able to become pioneers of change to create a much higher-quality democracy.