Observer Says Paid Demonstrations Can Damage Democracy

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Political communication expert from Esa Unggul University, M. Jamiluddin Ritonga, believes that paid demonstrations can damage democracy because they are not intended to convey and fight for the protesters’ own aspirations, but rather to express the aspirations of the people or masterminds who pay them. “The mastermind merely uses people to realise his wishes. The paid demonstrators struggle, often even hurling abuse at certain individuals or institutions, to fulfil the mastermind’s motives,” Jamiluddin said in Jakarta on Thursday. He therefore urged President Prabowo Subianto to take firm action against paid demonstrators, as protests should purely voice the people’s aspirations. In fact, he argued, the masterminds should be prosecuted for damaging democracy. Demonstrations are typically expected to shape public opinion towards certain individuals or institutions. However, it is feared that public opinion formed through paid protests will end up being false. “False public opinion will certainly influence the policies taken by the government. As a result, the policies adopted by the government will not address the protesters’ issues, but instead realise the mastermind’s aspirations,” he said. According to him, public opinion should be the main guide for the government in making policy. Therefore, in a democratic system, the government needs to apply a bottom-up approach, where policies are formulated based on aspirations that genuinely develop within society. “Aspirations must arise naturally from the people’s needs, not be engineered by certain parties through paid demonstrators. So, it is not enough for President Prabowo to merely know the masterminds who pay demonstrators; he must also take action against them,” he stated. This case came to light after the Chairman of the Bung Karno University (UBK) Faculty of Law Student Executive Board (BEM), Muhammad Abdimaludin, admitted to receiving Rp20 million following a demonstration and a meeting with Vice President Gibran Rakabuming on Monday (15/6). The money is strongly suspected to be compensation for relocating the students’ protest site. The admission was made by Abdimaludin during an internal student clarification forum on Monday night (22/6). In the forum, he detailed that the Rp20 million was divided among seven people. He himself received Rp6 million, while the remainder was distributed to several other BEM officials and other parties. The Bung Karno University Alumni Association (IKA UBK) has strongly condemned the actions of the student executive board members who allegedly received money from a certain party to move the protest location from the Presidential Palace to the House of Representatives (DPR) building.