GPIB Synod Council Gives Message Of Elections As Strengthening Democracy

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JAKARTA - The Synod Council of the Protestant Church in western Indonesia (GPIB) Immanuel Jakarta gave a message of grazing ahead of the 2023 Christmas Eve service regarding the 2024 General Election (Pemilu), one of which is the election as an instrument to strengthen democracy. "The election will also serve as an instrument to build and strengthen democracy, and the election will be a means for efforts to strengthen the pillars of the pillars of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI)," said Chairman of the XXI GPIB Sinode Council Pastor Paulus Kariso Rumambi in Jakarta, Sunday. He also reminded that elections are not a medium for promoting the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, as message in the Bible 1. 12:25, "So that there should not be divisions in the body, but that different members pay close attention to each other. "GPIB must see that elections should not be merely used as a place to choose people to occupy the positions available, even though the main goal is indeed that. But it is far more important to place elections as a medium for the nation's integration," he said.

Paulus mentioned that money and ethnicity, religion, race, and intergroup (SARA) politics are still rampant. Looking at past experiences, he said, legal approaches are still difficult to eliminate these dirty practices. "GPIB assesses the need to encourage a moral ethical approach to deal with these violations. A moral ethical resistance must be carried out by all GPIB residents in order to provide a deterrent effect to the perpetrators," he said. GPIB Synodical Council also appealed to all GPIB residents and all citizens to participate in monitoring the election process, so that the process can run smoothly, honestly, and fairly, and the results are truly a reflection of purely public choice. "Because the role of monitoring this election is also a form of church responsibility in guarding democracy in a better direction," he said.