Tragung Village, Batang Regency (7/21/2024) – Regional Head Elections (Pilkada) will be held simultaneously on Wednesday, November 27, 2024 based on the principles of direct, general, free, secret, honest, and fair (LUBER JURDIL). Reflecting on the implementation of the previous elections, there are still many problems that often arise, namely violations of money politics. The practice of money politics aims to gain voter support by distributing money, goods, or vouchers with the aim of obtaining voters’ votes.

Data from Bawaslu RI found 35 (thirty-five) cases of alleged money politics in the 2018 Pilkada, while according to Burhanuddin Muhtadi as a Professor of UIN Jakarta stated that Indonesia ranks third in the highest number of money politics cases, after Uganda and Benin. This is reinforced by Mahfud MD’s statement that money politics still occurs in Pilkada. This practice must be prevented as it can lead to corruption. Responding to these problems, Annisa Rahma Suci as a student of KKN TIM II Diponegoro University (Undip) in Tragung Village held a counseling and campaign “Young Generation Prevent Money Politics: Tragung Village Against Money Politics” which was held at the Tragung Village Hall, Kandeman District, Batang Regency on July 20, 2024. The counseling was attended by several village officials and youth in Tragung Village.

The presentation of the material given by Annisa to invite the younger generation not to abstain from voting in the simultaneous elections, related to one of the diseases that infect the elections, namely money politics that can injure democracy, the modes of money politics, the causes of money politics to be avoided, and the solutions offered. The solution presented by Annisa is to participate in all series of activities in participatory monitoring by cooperating with the younger generation in Tragung Village. The selection of the younger generation in participatory monitoring is because as many as 204,807,222 people in the National Permanent Voter List in the General Election (2024), 52% are young voters. Therefore, it is appropriate that the younger generation is expected to be able to take responsibility for participatory supervision and turn the moral movement (moral force) into a social movement (social movement).

Participatory education for the younger generation aims to oversee and supervise the implementation of elections that are increasingly complex with the potential for increasingly varied violations, both in the nomination, campaign and voting stages. The form of participatory supervision explained to 20 (twenty) young people of Tragung Village, one of which is through participatory supervision education organized by Bawaslu RI, participating in a supervisory poster design competition in the framework of the 6th anniversary of Bawaslu Batang Regency, and being involved in the Election Saka Adhyasta Council of the Batang Branch Kwartir. Annisa also described the success of the Anti-Money Politics Village in Purbo Village, Batang Regency. This is because Purbo Village has been declared by Bawaslu Batang as a pioneer anti-money politics village in Batang Regency.

The Tragung Anti-Money Politics Village counselling and campaign held in Tragung Village in the context of political intelligence also produced posters as output. The posters were distributed to participants and posted in the Village Hall as a form of political literacy. Some of the efforts made are expected to be able to create dignified and democratic elections. In addition, it is able to build a democratic climate with political education for the youth of Tragung Village. Thus, bottom-up political education is able to increase the commitment of the younger generation as the subject of the democratic party to eradicate transactional politics in the 2024 elections.

Author: Annisa Rahma Suci (Undip Government Science)
Field Supervisor: Dr.Eng. Ir. Samuel S.T., M.T.
Location: Tragung Village, Kandeman District, Batang Regency.