UGM Welcomes Positive Constitutional Court Decision Allows Campus Campaigns

UGM / ANTARA

YOGYAKARTA - Gadjah Mada (UGM) positively welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court which allowed educational institutions or campuses to become a campaign venue for presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2024 General Election.

Deputy Chancellor for Student Affairs, Community Service, and UGM Arie Sujito said the Constitutional Court's decision would be a means for campuses to play a more meaningful role in bringing democracy through the election arena.

"The Constitutional Court's decision is actually only a legal basis. Now the challenge is how the campus's creativity is. We at UGM will definitely allow it to be done," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 31.

The rules that allow campaigns on campus, according to Arie, need to be interpreted in the framework of political education considering that campuses as academic institutions also have a role as pillars of democracy.

"The campus is also a pillar of democracy. As a pillar of democracy, he must have a role in utilizing an episode called the election," said the UGM sociologist.

He considered that so far many parties had phobias with campaign terms and considered them a threat to campus stability.

For him, such an impression was raised because many political parties or politicians tend to prefer to use billboards or other props in campaigning.

In the context of political education, according to Arie, campuses have a role to provide provisions for the public, including students by formulating campaigns in the form of debate, dialogue, discussion, or building arguments between each candidate.

"The campaign does not have to use conventional old models. He can argue, discuss, discuss certain topics thematically. That's what really underlies, so the key is how to make politics and elections not scary," said Arie.

Debates held on campus, said Arie, can also close the chances of each candidate using hoax data for campaigns.

Through these facilities, the public can assess which candidates are committed, track records, and how to answer or respond to each problem.

"People who swear are caught oh this is a hoax, don't wait for Bawaslu to report to the public already know, because the size is not a matter of articles but the size is ethics. So bringing the election into public ethics, bringing elections into public property, not only belonging to the KPU, Bawaslu, and political parties," he said.

In its implementation, according to Arie, universities will need to agree on rules, for example, the format is in the form of dialogue or debate without the presence of campaign props and broadcast live through the social media of each campus.

In addition, it is also necessary to invite KPU and Bawaslu election organizers in every campaign event packaged in the form of debate or dialogue.

"You don't have to use props that create excessive sentiment, then not just with jargons, shouting like that, but talking about certain thematics about energy, food, education issues, national integration, technology or others," he said.

Previously, the decision of the Constitutional Court Panel of Judges number 65/PUU-XXI/2023, on Tuesday (15/8/) allowed election participants to campaign in government and educational facilities (schools and campuses) but as long as they did not use campaign attributes.