Using English in presidential debate undermines Indonesia's democracy

The proposal for using the foreign language has even shown an absence of comprehending the essence of the debate

A political analyst opined that using English in Indonesia's presidential and vice presidential debate could undermine the quality of democracy and be interpreted as an instrument to underestimate Indonesian language.

The proposal for using the foreign language has even shown an absence of comprehending the essence of the debate, Riko Noviantoro, a researcher at the Institute for Development of Policy and Local Partnerships (IDP-LP), stated.

The debate is aimed at helping the public observe the contenders' depth of understanding about the nation's problems and solutions to them instead of showing the pairs' English proficiency, he noted here, Friday.

According to local media, the idea was recently proposed by Andre Rosiade, a senior politician of Gerindra Party and head of Prabowo-Gibran pair's campaign team for the West Sumatra campaign trail.

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Rosiade contended that his proposal for using English language in the debate was reasonable to show the candidates' capability in understanding current geopolitical issues and communicating with world leaders.

According to Noviantoro, the proposal for using English instead of Indonesian as the national language in the General Elections Commission (KPU)-organized debate would also degrade the nation's identity.

The KPU organizes the presidential and vice presidential debate for Indonesians and not for foreigners, he stated.

ANTARA reported earlier that the KPU would hold five rounds of the presidential and vice presidential debate ahead of the 2024 Presidential Election. The first and second rounds will be held on Dec 12 and Dec 22, 2023.

Meanwhile, the third and fourth rounds will take place on Jan 7 and Jan 14, 2024, while the fifth round will be held on Feb 4, 2024.

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In addition, the KPU has set the presidential campaign period from November 28, 2023, to February 10, 2024, while the presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on February 14, 2024.

The presidential election will be contested by three pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates: Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka, and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.

Baswedan and Iskandar have been nominated with the support of the NasDem Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Ummat Party.

Subianto and Raka have the backing of the Gerindra Party and a coalition of parties, including Golkar, National Mandate Party (PAN), Democratic Party, and Gelora Party.

Pranowo and Mahfud have the support of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), United Development Party, Perindo Party, and Hanura Party.

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