As a Labor Party, they aim to fight for workers' rights. To this end, by using a bottom-up (approach), they can be more rooted, stronger, more idealist, and more resilient.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Labor Party, currently led by chairman of the Confederation of the Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI) Said Iqbal, should apply a bottom-up approach, political observer at Pelita Harapan University Emrus Sihombing stated.

"As a Labor Party, they aim to fight for workers' rights. To this end, by using a bottom-up (approach), they can be more rooted, stronger, more idealist, and more resilient," Sihombing told ANTARA here on Tuesday.

Based on this perspective, Sihombing emphasized that the Labor Party should collaborate with regional workers' organizations or associations, specifically at the district-, city-, and sub-district-level.

"Do not just collaborate with elite groups at the central or national level. That is called top down. There would not be unique as compared to the other parties," he elaborated.

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The academician opined that conducting a top-down approach would not allow the party to penetrate to the bottom strata of society.

It would be hard to create a party cadre that has strong solidarity and idealism if the top-down approach was applied.

"If top down is applied, then what the people see is a certain figure and vision-mission formulated at the national level. They would not necessarily include the interest of workers in the regions," he explained.

To this end, in order to solidify the existence of the Labor Party in voicing the concerns of workers in various regions, the bottom-up approach should be emphasized, he asserted.

Sihombing also encouraged the Labor Party to have a unique appeal to enable it to compete with major parties on Indonesia's political stage.

"For instance, they can say that they side with the people and will use every power the party has to solve issues, such as COVID-19 or natural disasters," he remarked.
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Translator: Putu Savitri, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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