Jakarta – Attacking each other, slander and the use of SARA (sectarian and identity politics) being accentuated by the presidential election candidates is disappointing the millennial generation. They are now threatening that if the situation does not improve, they will golput (abstain from voting) in the April 17 general elections.
“We are disappointed, the two presidential tickets are not providing a good political education. They’re promoting hostilities and slandering each other so we don’t know what program they well pursue”, said I the Golput Millennial (Saya Millenial Golput, SMG) spokesperson Saifa El Faruqi in Pakubuwono, South Jakarta, on Tuesday January 15.
Saifa said that the presidential tickets should be putting forward the best campaign program to advance the nation and the country, not creating divisions between the children of the nation.
“For the moment we’ve not yet determined our choice, because all we have been given has been issues and hoaxes which flow on to our lives and our family and campus environments”, said the student from the Pembangunan Jaya University (UPJ).
Saifa explained further that for him and his other millennial friends this needs to be understood in terms of social media (medsos). According to Saifa the content being served up on social media, whether it be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube, has not been exempt from political lies.
“Presidential campaign team A vilifies, slanders and attacks presidential candidate B and visa versa, it is as if this situation is intentionally being allowed to continue, it is as if the spirit of togetherness which we have is being lost because of different [electoral] choices. Will this be allowed to continue?, it’s distressing.”
With only around 100 days remaining before the election, Saifa and his colleagues are hoping that the presidential election campaign teams will think about how to campaign properly for sake of the nation so that the millennial generation can vote in the elections. But for the moment Saifa as a millennial is declaring he will golput or not vote.
“Stop the politics of SARA, stop the politics of hoax, stop the politics of playing people off against each other and stop the politics of cebong kampret. Give us something refreshing, we are convinced that the presidential candidates contesting [this election] are the best children of the nation who can bring change to the Indonesian nation. Come on, unite, end the hostilities for the sake of great Indonesia”, he said in closing.
Notes
Golput – Golongan Putih or White Movement. The term first emerged as a campaign by students in the 1971 elections and derives its name from marking the white section of the ballot paper rather than a party symbol or candidate’s picture thereby making the vote invalid. In recent years the term has broadened to include not just intentionally casting an invalid vote but also vote abstention. Under new electoral laws introduced in 2003, golput, defacing a ballot paper or simply not voting is no longer an electoral offence although publicly encouraging others to do so remains punishable under law.
Cebong – A derogatory term meaning “tadpole” which is used against incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo supporters to mock the fact that the president kept frogs as pets while he was the mayor of Solo and the governor of Jakarta.
Kampret – A derogatory term meaning “bat” which is used against supporters of presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto who their opponents say hang from the ceiling and are deaf and blind to the truth.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Pilpres 2019, Anak Millenial Pilih Golput”.]
Source: http://www.tribunnews.com/nasional/2019/01/16/pilpres-2019-anak-millenial-pilih-golput
