PDIP's RedTalks 2026: A Commitment to Providing a Platform for Youth Aspirations
PDI Perjuangan (PDIP) East Java successfully organised the inspirational talk event RedTalks 2026 in Malang on Sunday (26/7). The event sparked extraordinary enthusiasm with the attendance of hundreds of students from various campuses.
RedTalks 2026 served as an interactive discussion space to absorb the aspirations of the younger generation. The event was skilfully hosted by comedian Abdel Achrian, known as Cing Abdel, alongside political observer Rocky Gerung and cultural figure Dwi Cahyono.
Rocky Gerung offered his sharp views as a discussion trigger before the students. He urged the younger generation to dare to hold political parties to account and to take a firm stance.
“We want to hold the parties to account. Indonesia was founded to take the left path. So do not be afraid of getting lost on the left path, because you will certainly get lost on the right one,” Rocky asserted.
The statement succeeded in emboldening the students to voice the condition of Burnout Society directly. One student representative fiercely criticised political parties that have now lost their ideology and merely rely on empty branding or dancing.
“As of today, we look at political parties — what is the difference between one and another? There is none. A party should be the pioneer of ideological struggle and class consciousness,” the student representative criticised.
He also highlighted the phenomenon of a scarcity of ideas, which he said gravely threatens the quality of participation among first-time voters. “Democracy, which should be founded on intellect, will fall into the abyss of Idiotcracy,” he added before the speakers.
This sharp concern was wisely responded to by Cing Abdel from the perspective of the entertainment world. He emphasised the importance of preserving the honesty of young people’s personas without forcing uniformity merely to harvest votes.
“Do not change young people’s persona so that young voters can be attracted. In my view, a political party cannot be equated with a product for sale,” Abdel said by way of analogy.
In line with this, cultural figure Dwi Cahyono confirmed the existence of a gap between political instruments and the grassroots. He assessed that the youth of Greater Malang still retain the freedom to determine the direction of their movement.
“Therefore, fighting for the political aspirations of young people through a political party or not, because there are still other paths, that is one choice,” Dwi added, summarising the dynamics of the discussion.
In response to this series of sharp aspirations, PDIP East Java affirmed the party’s genuine commitment. The party bearing the bull symbol is ready to provide the widest possible space for young people to collaborate.
The Secretary of the PDIP East Java Regional Leadership Council, Deni Wicaksono, stated that RedTalks would be used as the party’s vehicle to accommodate various inputs and aspirations from young people and the general public.
“Our hope is that RedTalks will cover an increasingly wide area in each regency and city, whether on campuses, in coffee stalls or in cafes — hold events like this so that input from the smallest environments can then be accommodated,” Deni said.
Deni said PDIP would consistently hold RedTalks in various regions so that all layers of society could convey their input to the government.
“We in PDIP will try to organise, accommodate aspirations, and then formulate those aspirations into a policy. Both internal party policy and we will assign PDIP cadres in the legislature as well as the executive,” he explained.
PDIP East Java hopes that RedTalks 2026 can continue to facilitate open and honest dialogue of this kind. The aim is to formulate relevant policies in order to bring about positive change for the nation’s successor generation.