Criticising the Notions of the Presidential Candidates in Governmental, Defence and Security Policies

Yogyakarta, 11 April 2019 – The Dean of Fisipol UGM was invited as a panellist in the fourth presidential debate on March. This moment was used by the Student Council (DEMA) of Fisipol UGM to organize Diskusi Dialektika #3 (Dialectical Discussion #3). This discussion was centred on the topic of governmental, defence and security policies.This discussion was held on Thursday (11/04) at the West Hall of Fisipol UGM. Erwan Agus Purwanto (the Dean of Fisipol UGM) and Yunizar Adi Putra (lecturer at the Department of International Relations of Fisipol UGM) were the speakers in this discussion.“The issues that were discussed here are the issues that are highly substantial for Fisipol students,” as stated by Kintansari, the Head of the Strategic Studies Division of DEMA Fisipol UGM.

As a panellist in the presidential debate, Erwan stated that both presidential candidates have differing worldviews when it comes to governance. Erwan also conveyed several issues that the panellists provided for the presidential candidates, which were; how to govern effectively, bureaucratic reformation, high intensity of political corruption, professional cabinet, institutional oversight, effectivity of cabinet management and smart governance. From all of these aforementioned issues, smart governance was the selected topic.

“Both presidential candidates posses different arguments when it comes to the issue of smart governance. According to Prabowo, technology is not the most important factor, as he emphasized on goal realization. Meanwhile, Jokowi believes that technology is the key aspect, as it provides efficiency to achieve the existing goals,” as Erwan stated.

As an observer, Yunizar conveyed that the last presidential debate was not optimal. According to him, very little information was provided by both sides during the debate. “The minimum amount of information that were provided to the public can be attributed to the lack of public speaking skills of both presidential candidates. How can they convey their visions if they cannot articulate them well,” as stated by Yunizar.

“Cybercrime is a threat that needs to be tackled in this contemporary era. This era demands us to be creative in facing issues, including cybercrime,” as Yunizar conveyed.