Entrusting Our Future to Leaders, Is It Possible?

Simultaneous Regional Elections on November 27, 2024

By: Stube HEMAT.

Although it is not as bombastic as the presidential election on February 14, 2024, the simultaneous regional elections in Indonesia must receive careful attention from all levels of Indonesian society. There are 37 provinces and 508 regencies/municipals throughout Indonesia participating in the political event to elect regional leader candidates who will determine the fate of many people for the next five years. Stube HEMAT, which accommodates young people and students, tried to gather the opinions of several students regarding the political event to elect regional leaders. Entrusting our future to leaders is like buying a pig in a poke, an extraordinary gambling bet. Our level of trust should be contsructed based on integrity, transparency, candidate's ability to listen, and  communication model of theirs. The following are some of the opinions of Gen-Z that Stube HEMAT managed to collect during a discussion related to the simultaneous PILKADA (Wednesday, 13/10/2024).

"Being a leader is not a small thing, leaders should not just make promises, especially in areas such as Papua, for example, which need leaders who can listen to the needs of the community, for example, building houses, or other public facilities," said Shergino Antonio Ongkor, a Communication Science student of STPMD.

The same thing was also conveyed by Aristoteles Kaitana, a Government Science student of STPMD, "The background of a leader is important to consider, such as,  good or bad, whether their previous leadership  went well, and the community can accept his leadership. All citizens have the right to vote".

"The Gen-Z have to determine criteria when choosing a leader, for example, moral ethics is the main criteria or parameter, such as whether they have committed corruption or made false promises, whether their development planning is in favor of empowering the community to improve welfare or not. "Gen-zi students are expected to be agents of change and actively participate in discussions and provide political education to the community to choose leaders correctly," said Delano Iventus F. Turot, a Communication Science student of STPMD enthusiastically.

The same opinion was also conveyed by Jerliyando George Korwa, a Communication Science student of STPMD, that track records are important when choosing a leader, and the leader must be close  and love love his people.

The Simultaneous regional elections on November 27, 2024, are an event to fight for power and determine new leaders for the next five years, so according to Irene B.M. Zalukhu, a Magister student of Political Government of Gadjah Mada University, the Simultaneous regional elections are not just one day on the D-day, but there are five years at stake to fulfill the needs of many people at the regional level, so they are better than the previous years.

Different from the previous opinion, Daniel Prasdika, a theology student-STAK MARTURIA observed that many Gen-Z are indifferent to the simultanuous regional election political event because they think that the regional election will not change anything. Therefore, discussions are needed to reconstruct  the mindset of many Gen-Z that choosing the correct leader will determine the direction of many people's lives.

 

"A growing mindset is important for Gen-Z because the regional election determines our fate for the next five years, so, Gen-Z themselves must be actively involved in several discussions to open their insights and understand the importance of voting correctly. By voting a leader based on the ideal criteria, we can entrust our fate to the leaders," said Patrick Valdano Sarwom, a Communication Science student of STPMD, to end the discussion that day. ***