What Is Political Polarization? Learn Experience In Previous Elections

Political illustration (Dicebreaker)

Political polarization is something that many parties are wary of ahead of the 2024 General Election. Seeing the experience of the 2019 General Election, political polarization occurs because of identity politics. However, there are still many people who do not know what political polarization is.

KH Ma'ruf Amin Vice President hopes that the 2024 General Election will be free from the use of identity politics which can lead to political polarization. The Vice President emphasized that the campaign and socialization of the ban on the use of identity politics must continue to be carried out by all relevant parties long before the election.

"The polarization of the last election, which then brought identity issues, should not be repeated," asked the Vice President when giving a press statement after attending the National Dialogue with the Political Party in the context of preparing for the 2024 General Election at The St. Regis Hotel, Jakarta, Monday (13/03/2023).

Political polarization must be prevented from avoiding the division of society during the democratic party. Actually, what is the phenomenon of political polarization in Indonesian politics?

Political polarization has a definition, namely the phenomenon of two groups of political understanding and views. The word 'polarization' in the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI) means division of two parts.

In the publication of the Public Opinion in Political Polarization on Social Media, it was stated that political polarization occurs when people are divided into two opposing camps due to issues, ideologies, and policies.

Political polarization is easy to occur in an area or country where citizens have a strong commitment to an ideology, culture, or candidate. This polarization will divide society because a group thinks it has the most correct principles or views than other groups. Other groups will be considered wrong in their political views and morality.

Polarization occurred as a result of a change in the framing of party political communication. The change in framing occurred due to a change in the map or political culture followed by the attitude of party supporters.

The phenomenon of political polarization occurred in the 2019 Presidential Election. Progressive pair candidates at that time brought together Joko Widodo - Ma'aruf Amin with Prabowo Subianto - Sandiaga Uno. In the publication of Managing Political Polarization in Circulation of Power in Indonesia, the public saw that the two candidate pairs were opposite figures in many ways.

The opposite position of the two candidate pairs also made supporters quickly formed. The theme carried by the two candidate pairs is also different. The candidate pair who spoke about strengthening the outskirts of Indonesia. While the other candidate stated that he wanted to restore Indonesia's glory in the international arena.

One candidate pair cooperates with a nationalist group, while the other candidate gathers Islamic groups. From this difference in position, political polarization is becoming clearer in society. Even strong polarization also makes voters do not hesitate to show their partiality in public spaces and social media.

In line with Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, TNI Commander Admiral Yudo Margono also wants to prevent political polarization. Admiral Yudo reminded all his soldiers to be neutral and not to be dragged away by the flow of political polarization in the 2024 election.

Commander Yudo also said that the Military Police were also required to be able to prevent and take action against various actions that were not in line with the neutrality of the TNI. Strict and fast action needs to be taken for actions, such as the use of party attributes by soldiers, to official facilities by unauthorized parties.

Commander Yudo said that political polarization is prone to occur in today's era. Many irresponsible parties will use social media for certain purposes, such as the use of SARA issues for provocation, hate speech, radical doctrine, black campaign, and so on.

That is the review of what political polarization is and for example. Political polarization needs to be prevented so that the community is not divided. Even strong polarization is feared because the split will form and last for a long time after the implementation of the election.

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