Observers Say That The Down-to-the-Street Movement Is The Only Way To Criticize The Jokowi Government And Its Assistants

President Jokowi with Vice President Ma'ruf Amin/DOK VIA ANTARA

JAKARTA - A political observer from Indonesia's Al Azhar University, Ujang Komaruddin, assesses that criticism of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and his ministers through political parodies at the Republic of Dreams event or Republik BBM (Truly Mumet) is now no longer effective. criticizing through entertainment media like that will only be considered a breeze by the government. "In the past it was effective, but now it is no longer effective. Now it (which is effective, ed) is suppressing through large demonstrations, so if parodies are only considered criticism of the past," Ujang Komaruddin told VOI, Friday, April 29, evening.

However, he considers criticism through parodies by Effendi Gazali and comedians to be good for political education. This means, said Ujang, criticism can be channeled in various ways.

"But in terms of effectiveness, now it's not, because many demonstrations are not heard. Therefore, there is great pressure like the demonstrations on April 11 last, that's roughly what can be heard," he said.

According to the Executive Director of the Indonesian Political Review (IPR), there is no more 'right on target' way than criticizing through massive demonstrations. Even then, not all the demands of the demonstrations were heeded by the government.

"It's difficult (another way, ed) the most (right on target) is the movement to the streets. The proof was the revision of the KPK Law and the omnibus law, although on a large scale, they were never heard of," he said.

"Civil society must be built and must be united," continued Ujang.

On the other hand, said Ujang, many government communications are ineffective to the public. He said, the current government has a lot of blunders.

"There are a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes, a lot of disconnections, that's what's happening right now, that's why it's always wrong, because everyone plays," he said.

Even if it is said that President Jokowi lacks power, according to Ujang, the term could be used.

"But that's the difficulty of uniting the many differences in the palace that happened today. Moreover, Jokowi is only two years away, of course the coalition parties have their respective interests," explained Ujang.

Like it or not, added Ujang, Jokowi must re-solidify the coalition's commitment to work for the benefit of the community, nation and state.

"It's just that today, political parties have started their personal interests, so they have to rebuild awareness," he added.

However, Ujang believes that the criticism of the political parody is not in vain. Because even though it's entertaining, criticism in this way is still needed. "It's not in vain because the accumulation of a lot of criticism is also a strength," he concluded.