UNAIR NEWS – Regional Election (Pilkada) is close. The candidates running for regional office have started their campaigns. Therefore, as an effort to build awareness of citizens to participate actively in the five-year event, the National Unity and Political Protection Agency (Bakesbangpol Linmas) of East Java Province invited several experts of Universitas Airlangga to give exposure in the Public Discussion on “Building People Awareness in the Implementation of Regional Election of East Java 2018 “.
The event at the Soetandyo Hall of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNAIR, was held on Thursday, March 22. Dr. Suko Widodo, Political Communication expert as the moderator opened the discussion by emphasizing the importance of citizen participation in the elections to build the region together.
“Regional election is a mean of all elements of community to participate and build the region together,” said Suko.
As the organizer as well as the keynote speaker, Narto as the representative of Bakesbangpol Linmas Jatim said that the discussion involving some experts from UNAIR was intended to build public awareness about Pilkada.
“Therefore, we collaborate with higher education institutions to build mutual awareness. We hope all citizens can use the right to vote later, “he said.
Meanwhile, Hari Fitrianto, S.IP., M.IP., as a lecturer of Political Science UNAIR said that the election is the result of the 1998 struggle that gave birth to reformation. He hoped that the struggle 20 years ago can be the spirit for citizens to be involved actively in the election.
“With the active participation of the citizens, the regional institutions can represent their own regional interests to support national development,” Hari said.
Adding the statement of his colleague, UNAIR gender communication expert Liestianingsih Dwi, Dra., M.Sc., said that in the upcoming regional election process, she hoped that all elements of society can be active and take parts in the five-year democracy party.
“Especially the women. Why is that? Because the number of women voters is very large, “she explained. “In the election we have two major components, women and millennial generation,” she added.
As the last speaker, Djoko Sulistyo, Drs., MS., as a lecturer of International Relations said that the election is an access to everyone to convey the aspirations back to the appropriate leader to make policy.
“The election is an opportunity to become a media to unite people,” he said.
At the end, the discussion was taken over by Suko again. In his presentation, Suko reiterated that in East Java there are more than 31 million citizens who have the right to vote. For that, added Suko, as the second region with most voters, East Java are closely related to the progress of the Indonesian nation in the future.
“In accordance with the target of East Java KPU, hopefully 77.5% or more citizens of East Java can vote in the election later,” said Suko.
Author: Nuri Hermawan
