Yogyakarta, August 31st 2023─Ahead of the elections, the presence of the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) is very significant because it determines the quality of Indonesian democracy. For Bawaslu, the complexity of the 2024 Election will not be an obstacle. “This is a maturing process in democracy. That is the importance of the presence of election organizers,” said Totok Hariyanto on Thursday (31/8). The Bawaslu member attended the FISIPOL Leadership Forum (FLF) to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the 2024 elections, including the “Campaign on Campus”.
“We on campus do not just criticize elections, but also provide the input,” said Election Corner Coordinator, Abdul Gaffar Karim, in his speech. The existence of the campus itself has been in the spotlight after the Constitutional Court revised the material of Article 280 Paragraph 1 letter h of the Law Number 7 Year 2017 related to campus licensing as a campaign location for election participants. Responding to this, representative of the Student Council of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM, Raihan Malcolm, expressed the challenges and opportunities that could potentially arise as a result of the revision of the article. “The event of inviting vice presidents or presidential candidates is an event for them to express their vision so that young people do not abstain and voice their voices,” said Raihan. His opinion is based on Raihan’s findings that some of his friends tend to be apolitical. “If it [the campaign] is without direct supervision from Bawaslu, I think there will be several implications. There could be violations of the election code of ethics or money politics could enter the campus,” Raihan continued.
Responding to Raihan, Totok Hariyanto said that Bawaslu would be ready to carry out any laws concerning its duties and functions. “We monitor that there is no element of influencing voters by providing material, money, and others,” Totok explained. He explained that campaigning on campus is not an extraordinary thing. According to him, students are basically able to vote and have the right to contribute to advancing their nation.
The issue of campaigning on campus is also a concern of the Executive Director of the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), Khoirunnisa NA. She emphasized that detailed and detailed rules are needed regarding the mechanism for election participants to campaign on campus. “I understand that a responsible campaign is a dialog [and] exchange of ideas. Now what is actually awaited is for the KPU to make more technical rules,” Khoirunnisa explained. She underlined the importance of equal treatment when campaigning on campus. “So it’s not just a matter of the candidate, the campus, and the KPU. But the process needs to be monitored,” she added.
The discussion was also attended by a lecturer of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, and former Chairperson of Bawaslu, Bambang Eka. In line with Khoirunnisa, Bambang said that very strict regulations were needed. He mentioned the crisis of political education so that campuses can take over by holding scientific forums. Bambang imagines that the ideal campaign on campus is when discussions are able to “entertain” as well as educate. “This is what I imagine about debates on campus, about discussions, and campaigns on campus. There are no flags, everyone speaks equally and really speaks scientifically,” Bambang explained.