Maintaining the Integrity of the Nation

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Hindu followers from seven temples in Mojokerto city and regency perform the Melasti purification ceremony on Saturday (3/02/2019) at Pentirtaan Jolotundo in Seloliman village of Jetis district, Mojokerto regency, East Java. The ceremony, which is performed ahead of Nyepi (Day of Silence), involves using the “water of life” to clean the “dirt of nature”.

More than the observance of Nyepi (Day of Silence) last year, which was overshadowed by the simultaneous local elections, the change of the 1940 Saka Hindu calendar year to 1941 on March 7, this year was overshadowed by the dynamics of the legislative and presidential and vice presidential elections on April 17.

There is growing concern that the political situation will heat up and could damage the unity and integrity of the nation. As a political event, legislative and presidential elections could be considered an effort, art and science to gain power in a constitutional way. People participate in the elections with the intention of achieving a common good, as Aristotle once said. However, it must also be remembered that power can also be taken unconstitutionally.