Heroes in a Political Year

The Heroes’ Day commemoration this year takes place amid political contestations ahead of the simultaneous general elections on April 17, 2019. We are intentionally talking about this so that all presidential and VP candidates will remember the contribution of our heroes.

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

Presidential candidates Joko Widodo (left) and Prabowo Subianto walk hand in hand at a pledge for a peaceful campaign ahead of the 2019 election that was held at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on Sunday, Sept. 23. The presidential candidates hope to receive support from volunteers at a time when coalition parties also have to concentrate on preparations for the legislative election.

The Heroes’ Day commemoration this year takes place amid political contestations ahead of the simultaneous general elections on April 17, 2019.

We are intentionally talking about this so that all presidential and VP candidates, namely President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, KH Ma’ruf Amin, Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno, along with their respective campaign teams, will remember the contribution of our heroes. So many national heroes gave everything they had to unite the nation and set it free from the clutches of Dutch colonial forces. It was because the blood and tears of these heroes that Indonesia achieved its independence on Aug. 17, 1945.

The preamble of the 1945 Constitution states: “And the moment of rejoicing has arrived in the struggle of the Indonesian freedom movement to guide the people safely and well to the threshold of independence of the state of Indonesia which shall be free, united, sovereign, just and prosperous”. We have indeed achieved our independence, strengthened our unity and ensured our sovereignty. However, we are still struggling to establish a just and prosperous society.

It is achieving this just and prosperous society that we must continuously strive for. However, we wish to remind everyone that political contestations must not tear down our sense of kinship as a nation. Any effort to undermine our unity and our woven diversity is a betrayal of our heroes’ sacrifice.

We are now seeing the tendency of politicians increasingly polarizing the people through their churlish campaigns. Social media has a huge role in widening the split between groups in society. Such situations are exacerbated when truth is determined by personal beliefs or preferences instead of by common sense.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A scavenger carries his child and a sack containing used goods on Jl. Cikini Raya, Central Jakarta, on Friday, Oct 9, 2018. The government must continue to focus on pulling people out of poverty and into the middle class.

In such psychological political situations, we wish to remind our political elites to be wiser with their words and in espousing facts and data in order to maintain national unity. Leaders are mere humans with their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. Differences in politics are common and should not undermine our bond of kinship.

Instead, in the political contestation ahead of the 2019 election, we wish to encourage all presidential candidates to offer programs that will fulfill the promise of our independence, namely the establishment of a just and prosperous society. We are still so very far away from truly achieving this. There are still poor people everywhere. Social-economic gaps remain wide, and so does the geographical imbalance between Java and non-Java regions. For many people, justice remains sweet talk but an empty promise.

In their campaign, the two presidential candidates must offer programs that will fulfill the promises of our independence. A just and prosperous society is one such promise that was formulated by our founding fathers as a national goal. Campaign debates should be focused on achieving such national goals, such as creating a just and prosperous society. We urge all of our presidential candidates to talk about such programs, instead of spouting words that will only create national uproar.