Strengthening the Peaceful Reconnection

KOMPAS/IDHA SARASWATI WAHYU SEJATI

Azyumardi Azra

The political years are bothersome. Many people are worried that there will be difficult encounters that have the potential to split connections and networks of different groups of citizens involved in contesting the long political years.

Even though the general election is still quite far away, namely on 14 February 2024, and the regional-head election (pilkada) too, on 27 November 2024, the political years have in fact already begun in 2022. The political years could even continue until 2025, when there will be a claim for the results of the general election and local elections to the Constitutional Court.

Hard encounters in the political field, to varying degrees, almost always occurred before and after the general election or regional election in the past. Some of the residues of disconnections, violent encounters and polarization that have emerged, such as in the 2017 Jakarta Pilkada or Governor Election (Pilgub) and 2019 Presidential Election (Pilpres) still persist. The residues, even, could continue throughout the political years ahead.

In order to make the agenda for the 2024 General Election and Regional Head Elections run safely, without leaving various excesses and residues, it is necessary to strengthen (again) peaceful encounters.

Also read:

> Repercussions of Acting Regional Heads

> Curbing Political Escalation

The strengthening of peaceful encounters is important in building stronger (re)connections so that any residue of populism or identity politics can be removed.

However, remember, painful encounters are only part of the story. The bigger part of the story is peaceful or gentle encounters -- even though there are still difficult encounters among countries, such as the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Such violent encounters must be ended in order to strengthen again the (re)connection between and relations among of the inhabitants of the earth, as overwhelmingly reported by Kompas to commemorate its 57th anniversary (27-28/6/2022).

In the homeland of Indonesia, various forms and aspects of connection, reconnection and networking are created over a very long period of time among citizens or groups of citizens who differ in ideology and politics, race, ethnicity, religion, sociocultural traditions and socioeconomic class. In contemporary times, the increase in peaceful encounters, connections and reconnections in the country has become more intense since the second half of the 1980s, when development began to show results. There has been significant progress in road infrastructure, means of commercial aviation transportation, the growth of economic “prosperity” that adds to the ranks of the middle class and greater political stability and security.

All these advances have made it possible for people with diverse backgrounds to travel from one area to another. Throughout the process, they play an important role in promoting peaceful encounters, interactions, connections and networks among citizens by crossing the many primordial differences among them. As a result, Indonesianness is getting stronger. Indonesia is no longer merely “imagined communities”, as the Indonesianist Benedict Anderson (1983) argued, but is really actualized.

Peaceful or soft encounters that create connections and networks occur not only among citizens and actual communities in the country. Economic and political liberalization has increased globalization since the beginning of the new millennium, bringing Indonesia and some of its citizens into the realm of cosmopolitanism -- connected and integrated into a cosmopolitan network. For a decade and a half in the early 21st century, through government actors and citizen figures, Indonesia with its "soft diplomacy" has succeeded in becoming one of the important actors that creates international connections and reconnections, through democracy and Islam, that is compatible with democracy, modernity, human rights and gender equality.

Unfortunately, however, these peaceful encounters with connection and reconnection at the global and national levels have also experienced a setback, mainly due to the emergence of extremism, radicalism and terrorism that are carried out by the community actors themselves. Many countries, including Indonesia, tend to take a harsh, preemptive and repressive approach. Peaceful encounters that create significant cosmopolitan connections, reconnections and networks suddenly become much more difficult, if indeed they are not to be called shattered. The international world with nation-state boundaries is no longer borderless. The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened connections, peaceful reconnections and cosmopolitan human-to-human networks.

Also read:

> Development and Peace

> Avoiding New Burden of History

With the shift from the pandemic to the Covid-19 endemic and the start of economic recovery, it is time for the government, community institutions and the media to increase efforts to restore peaceful relations, connections, reconnection and cosmopolitan networks at the national and global levels. Recovery efforts now have greater opportunities because of the return in the increase in travel across national borders -- the obstacles and constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic are also continuing to decrease.

At the national and local levels, the government together with social leadership and civil society can avoid harsh encounters during the political years that could lead to the collapse of connections-reconnections, social cohesion and stability of the newly restored nation-state.

Consequently, public officials (executive, legislative, judicial) and political elites need to put more emphasis on peaceful and reconciliatory narratives – they must give a gesture for strengthening peaceful encounters to strengthen social cohesion. They should not take policies and make statements that can trigger commotions and violent encounters that can damage the life of the nation as a whole.

AZYUMARDI AZRA, History Professor at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN Jakarta); Member of the Cultural Commission of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI).

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.