Dean Of Fisipol UGM: Petition Campus 'Warning' For Democratic 2024 Election

Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gajah Mada University (UGM) Wawan Mas'udi ANTARA/Luqman Hakim.

YOGYAKARTA - Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Wawan Mas'udi said that the wave of petitions from a number of universities needs to be responded positively as a reminder so that the entire 2024 election process does not get out of democratic values.

"The direction certainly wants governance, then the political competition process takes place in a fair situation, a fair situation, and does not injure the basic values of democracy," Wawan said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, February 5.

Wawan assessed that the emergence of moral calls from campus actually showed concern from the higher education community or academics so that the development of democracy in Indonesia in welcoming the 2024 election did not decline.

"Don't let the development of democracy that we have pioneered in the last 25 years decline and eventually collapse," said one of the panelists of the first debate for the 2024 presidential election.

Therefore, Wawan again hopes that the moral calls made by academics from various universities will receive positive responses together with the government, election organizers or parties who are contesting the 2024 election.

"This is a can-warning from campus to anyone who is competing, who is fighting for power, who is maintaining that there are basic principles that need to be held together. In living in a state, there must indeed be basic principles that are followed," he said.

According to him, efforts to control and maintain a balance or "checks and balances" between the community or universities against state administrators are common in democracy.

He believes that the critical voices that arise from campus have good goals and always rely on basic values that are free from practical political interests.

"The partisan of the campus is partisans on values, partisans on democratic principles. What is defended by the campus is always firm because the campus also does not participate in political battles and direct power. It must be seen like that," said Wawan Mas'udi.

Previously, professors and academics from a number of state and private universities in various regions issued an open statement highlighting the condition of the nation, especially regarding the democratic situation in Indonesia ahead of the 2024 General Election.

Starting from academics at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) through "Petii Bulaksumur", then the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII), University of Indonesia (UI), Andalas Padang University, Hasanuddin University Makassar, Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UMY), Padjadjaran University (Unpad), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), followed by a number of other campuses.