Political Parties Responsible for Alleviating Friction

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Participants of the Rajut Kejut march carry a knitted banner that reads "Knitting Diversity" during the 21 April 2019 Car Free Day on Jl. Sudirman, Jakarta. The march urged all citizens to reunite following the divisive 2019 elections.

YOGYAKARTA, KOMPAS — Social friction threatens not only democracy, but also national unity. Political parties and the elite are responsible for resolving this friction, one way of which is to provide political education. Social friction is often caused by political contestation at the elite level.Regarding the issue, former Muhammadiyah chair Ahmad Syafii Maarif said in Yogyakarta on Tuesday (30/7/2019) that Indonesia’s political parties should not think only about themselves, and they must also think about the interests of the nation-state for the future.

Separately, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Syamsuddin Haris said that differences in opinion were inevitable in a democracy. However, these differences became unhealthy if they gave rise to social friction. “Stakeholders, especially political parties, are the most responsible [for resolving social friction] by providing political education, as they are the ones competing,” he said.