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Changing the style of 2024 elections to empower communities
The focus of campaigns should be on their long-term future and on medium-term plans to initiate the building of a better future for Indonesia’s young people.
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Two children walk past a 2024 general election-themed mural in Pandeglang, Banten, on March 6, 2023. The mural is aimed at encouraging people to participate in the 2024 general elections and avoid vote buying. (Antara/Muhammad Bagus Khoirunas)
Brawijaya University’s Journal of Interdisciplinary Socio-Economic and Community Study (JISCOS) has recently published my paper titled "Unleashing Community Empowerment through a New Regional Autonomy Concept in the 2024 Elections." While academic in nature, the message can be summarized as follows.
The upcoming 2024 elections will create a significant new dynamic, with all regional heads elected after national elections. The media has focused on changes in election management. Little attention has been paid to the significance of preparing long-term plans by new leaders and legislative bodies in 2025.
Approximately 60 percent of voters will be young people concerned about their future. The focus of campaigns should be on their long-term future and on medium-term plans to initiate the building of a better future for Indonesia’s young people. These elections need to be about their empowerment.
They will be empowered by a new regulatory environment that fosters a growing yet sustainable economy. Key to this is fostering economic orderliness, by governance ("tata kelola") in a broader sense, including governance within businesses and communities. Business governance covers business relationships, collaboration among small and large businesses, labor, suppliers, markets, government and the community. Community self-governance is by custom, religion, village and civil society organizations.
Government, business and community governance is dynamic and can change to empower businesses, workers and the community to govern themselves and facilitate collaboration among them.
Law No. 25/2009 on public services overlooks the most essential type of service for sustainable development: creating order through regulating behavior. Licensing imposes conditions to bring more order to public behavior. Thus, enforcing these license conditions is a public service that contributes to improving the community's quality of life.
Article 1(2) of the Constitution states that sovereignty belongs to the people. But Article 18 grants autonomy to regional heads and legislative bodies with no mention of the people. Sovereignty should manifest itself in regions by leaders and legislative bodies acknowledging that power lies with the people and they serve the people. For 2024, political parties and candidates should demonstrate that.
