Law Expert at UM Surabaya Describes the Dangers of Populism in the 2024 Election Contest

08 Aug
2023

Ilustrasi gambar (pixaba.com)

Law Expert at UM Surabaya Describes the Dangers of Populism in the 2024 Election Contest

Many political parties (political parties) are hooking up well-known artists ahead of the 2024 General Election (Pemilu). This strategy is considered effective in attracting the electorate and winning political contestation.

A number of well-known celebrities are recorded as running as legislative candidates (caleg) in the 2024 Legislative Election (Pileg). They will compete with 580 other DPR candidate candidates.

Political contestation in the 2024 Election carries Legislative Candidates (Caleg) who only look at popularity and influential figures on social media/influencers without considering other things such as the credibility, vision and mission of the Candidates, to their integrity. There are a number of problems where the root of the problem lies in the practice of populism.

This was conveyed by UM Surabaya legal expert Satria Unggul Wicaksana who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Law.

Satria explained that populism in many expert studies such as Muller and Vedi R Hadiz is a serious symptom that hinders democracy from growing properly. Many political actors will try hard to present an image that is actually the opposite of the character and political principles that are carried out.

"The use of various social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Tiktok actually drives populism and the image of legislative candidates who have a following base in cyberspace," said Saria Tuesday (8/8/23)

We certainly remember that Bongbong Marcos Jr., who is the son of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, actually obscured the fact that they were born in a dictatorial family, due to their high popularity on social media, TikTok.

Satria said that social media should also be encouraged so that it becomes a free arena in discourse for tracking candidates who do not violate integrity, have capabilities, and are really close to the people.

The image shown by politicians should not become a political camouflage that will harm the constituents who vote for them.

"Therefore, people's digital literacy regarding political awareness really must be encouraged in the framework of the 5-year political evaluation carried out by voters on the candidates they will choose," concluded Satria.