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Unity after elections: Riding a chimera?
The problem is not about religion itself, but lies in how religion is used as an instrument in politics just to serve the interests of egotistical elites.
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incumbent gubernatorial candidate Basuki Tjahaja Purnama-Djarot Saiful Hidayat and Gubernatorian Candidate Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno participate during an election debate at the Bidakara Hotel in Jakarta, April 12,2017. The debate was the last official debate Held by DKI Jakarta Election Commision (KPUD DKI) ahead of the runoff in the capital’s gubernatorial election. (JP/Seto Wardhana.)
T
he long-held Indonesian election principles of direct, general, free and confidential seem to have lost their relevance since all people share their thoughts and their preferences on the ballots. Knowing how your colleagues, neighbors or family members vote is a common topic to bring up when you get together.
With confidentiality no longer important in an election, a new problem arises in the Jakarta gubernatorial election. Some groups have threatened to ban religious death rites for people known to have voted for a certain candidate.
Indeed, it is absurd to our ears, but it happened in the world’s socalled third largest democracy.
Read also: When death becomes political: Return of the Greek tragedy
The question is how can the groups know who’s choosing who? If confidentiality is respected, how will those people know other people’s preferences? Someone may say one thing in public and then vote for a completely different candidate in secret.
However bizarre the reality of the race for Jakarta governor and deputy governor is, the use of religion to achieve political goals is not new.
However, intimidating the living by using the dead is neither civilized nor humane. It only shows that the discourse about the state ideology of Pancasila only starts and stops at the first principle, which is belief in an almighty God, and ignores the next pillars of humanity, unity, democracy and social justice.
