"The fiesta of democracy should be run joyfully, because the people are given opportunities to choose their leaders," the coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs told attendees of a coordinated meeting here.
The parliamentary and presidential elections, due to be held simultaneously throughout the country on April 17, is the people`s fiesta. Therefore, it should not be disrupted by conflicts, blasphemies, and hate speeches, Wiranto noted.
He stated that having different political preferences in general elections was acceptable, because the elections were necessarily convened due to the distinction in selecting the national leadership.
"However, having different political choices should not affect the national unity," he remarked, adding that the elections should make Indonesia progressive instead of being regressive.
Instead, the general elections need to be perceived as a momentum for building our nation`s better future together," Wiranto revealed at the coordinated meeting, organized for strengthening the nation`s alertness ahead of the elections.
The same message was also delivered by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) when speaking at the Nahdlatul Ulama`s (NU`s) Conference and National Meeting of Ulemas in Banjar city, West Java Province, on Wednesday.
Jokowi called on the entire nation to realize the importance of maintaining national unity despite the public`s different political preferences regarding the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.
The president affirmed that maintaining the national unity was important, as it would not be easy to restore it if a civil war were to erupt in a country.
"What I want to send you is the message of Rula Ghani, first lady of Afghanistan. She had stressed that if a civil war erupts, it would be very difficult to reunite the nation," Jokowi stated, adding that women and children will suffer the most from the war.
Hence, all members of Indonesian society should contribute to the common efforts to maintain Indonesia`s unity in diversity and to resolve whatever conflicts that may arise in the country, he remarked.
Reporting by Jannatunn Naim, Rahmad Nasution
(T.R013/A/INE)
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
