Yogyakarta, October 10th 2022–Fisipol UGM Department of Politics and Government held an Election Corner event titled “Bringing Back Programmatic Politics in the 2024 Election” as one of the events in Fisipol 67th Dies Natalis on Monday (10/10). The event was held through a hybrid scheme in Fisipol UGM’s Auditorium and was live-streamed through DPP UGM’s Youtube channel.
The discussion invited actors from political parties who were once alumni of UGM such as Hasto Kristiyanto from PDI Perjuangan, Willy Aditya from NasDem, and Kholid as a representative of the PKS Party.
“Globally, democracy has gone through a significant contraction. It is a shared responsibility between universities and friends in the political party to create a stronger and a higher quality democracy in the 2024 election which leads to programmatic politics,” said Wawan Mas’udi in his opening speech.
Willy in his speech said that a scientific approach is imperative in the political parties’ programs. “Through science, revolutions are created. Right now, we need a common virtue. The goal is not only to maintain an ideology but also to have a common virtue that considers the ethics of different areas.”
Programmatic politics are politics based on society’s aspirations and based on ideas, programs, and ideologies. It is not merely a transactional-based politics, a politics of patronage, or other forms of unhealthy politics.
In line with a global democracy that continues to heat up, Indonesia also faces various disruptions such as the existence of the pandemic and state mafias. When it comes to those problems, Kholid said that Indonesia’s democracy is stuck in a long and lengthy procedural democracy.
“Democracy should be able to increase our per capita income, our human development index, equality, and other liberty which is now in crisis. This is why this is a big agenda for us moving forward. We need to find a point of equilibrium,” Kholdi said.
Arsya, a student of DPP UGM, asked about the concrete strategies of parties when it comes to youth’s involvement in supporting or participating in politics.
“From the data representation, NasDem has the most percentage of millennials and women in Indonesia’s People’s Representatives Council,” Willy said.
Hasto explained that the youth of the future need to have imagination which is important to construct Indonesia in the new world order.
“We need to build leaders that start from universities. Innovation and research need to be developed, that is why politics starts from the roots, it touches every part of humanity,” he said.
Furthermore, Hasto explained that youth’s contribution is not only in terms of quantity but also quality. The important thing is not only to see youth in the political arena, but for youth to contribute in bringing change and progress through creativity, science, and digital knowledge.