UNAIR NEWS – Presidential and legislative election will be held on April this year. Various preparations has been made by all parties, especially General Election Commission (KPU) as the organizer. However, for most people the election preparation is still focused on presidential and vice presidential candidate introduction. Whereas for legislative candidates are still not familiar to the public eyes.
For this reason, the press has important role in providing information to public. Regarding this matter, several experts gathered at Universitas Airlangga on Tuesday, 15 January with the theme of “Welcoming Democratic Party with Dignity.”
The discussion with the hastag of #santunbermedia2019 was opened by Heru Cahyono M.M., as Regional Secretary of East Java Province. In his remarks, Heru said that the press should not take sides between each candidate and provide balance information. The press, he continued also should be trained to deliver the information.
Meanwhile, Head of National Press Council, Yosep Stanley Adi Prasetyo on the same occasion emphasized that simultaneous election caused people to focus more on presidential election. According to him, it seems people doesn’t pay too much attention to legislative election such as DPRD, Provincial DPRD, DPR RI, DPD RI.
“On the other hand, legislative candidates socialized themselves independently because there was no budget from goverment. In addition, press also has the task of socializing legislative candidate to public. The press could publish track records and profiles of each candidate. So, everyone will know more about them.” he explained.
Adding a statement from Yosep, Head of Information and Public Relations Center UNAIR Dr. Suko Widodo., M.Si., in his presentation, he said that Indonesia has the most complicated election. Everyone have to choose 5 times at once. Meanwhile, mostly voters doesn’t know who they would choose later.
“I’m concerned that this election is only a ceremony without substance. On the other hand, there is the infamous pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidate Nurhadi-Aldo (Dildo) on social media. I think the emergence of memes is a solution in the midst of a heated political situation, “he said.
Author: Nuri Hermawan
