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oung politicians from a number of political parties have voiced their commitment to building a better Indonesia amid political friction generated by the recent presidential election.

They were speaking at a recent gathering convened by the youth wing of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Taruna Merah Putih (TMP), and attended by a number of young leaders from academia, sport and the cultural scene.

One of the young politicians, PDI-P executive Maruarar Sirait, also called on young politicians from the Koalisi Merah Putih (Red and White Coalition), which was led by the losing presidential Prabowo-Hatta ticket, to join them in building a better Indonesia.

'€œWe want to send out the message that politicians from different parties can work together,'€ Maruarar said on Thursday.

A number of politicians from the Prabowo-led coalition have responded to the call.

Bima Arya Sugiarto from the National Mandate Party (PAN), Zulkieflimansyah from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and Achsanul Qosasi from the Democratic Party were seen at the gathering.

Bima Arya Sugiarto, who is the Mayor of Bogor, said during the gathering that the presidential election had greatly divided the nation, and that it was time to put an end to such division.

He said that after the Constitutional Court had issued its verdict on the presidential election dispute, politicians should focus on how to contribute to the efforts to develop the country, and especially on how to improve people'€™s welfare.

Bima added that he and PAN were ready to work with the next government, and that if Jokowi led the new government, his party would aim to be a successful countering force.

'€œPAN would be honored to be part of the opposition,'€ he said.

Zulkieflimansyah said that winning and losing were never a big deal, even in a presidential election.

'€œPower is constantly turning like a wheel. We should not make a big deal out of it,'€ he said.

He concurred with Bima that the biggest challenge now was to improve people'€™s welfare, a key to building a peaceful nation.

Achsanul added that the Democratic Party had assigned him to work on the House of Representatives Budget Committee, and that he planned to use the position to help the new government by giving it more fiscal room to carry out its programs.

Meanwhile, Yudi Latif from the Reform Institute, who gave a keynote speech, said that now was the perfect time for young politicians to uphold moral and ethics.

'€œAs long as political elites maintain good communication with all elements in society and keep their sanity, Indonesia will survive as a nation,'€ he said.

Nusron Wahid of the Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor), a youth wing of the country'€™s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), added that politicians and political parties could play important roles in deciding the nation'€™s future, but that today'€™s political parties were filled with corrupt politicians.

He therefore urged all political parties to enact a '€œmental revolution'€ as a way of attracting people to join.

'€œPolitical parties should be more transparent, so that good people want to join them,'€ he said. (ask)