Political communication

Political communication

The problem of communication, political communication in
particular, has once again come to the fore, with the emphasis
not on the normative aspects of the matter but on the practice of
communication in our daily community life.

In his keynote address delivered at a seminar entitled A
Reconstruction of our Republican Ideals at the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences on Tuesday, State Minister of Environment
Sarwono Kusumaatmadja noted that political communication in our
society is still poor. As a consequence we have difficulty in
setting a course for political dialog that would bring awareness
of our national ideals among citizens.

Our daily experience shows that those imperfections affect not
only our political communication system, but society on a wider
scale. Our intellectuals, who should be in a better position to
develop a healthy climate of communication -- by its very nature,
truth is always provisional and subject to change by new findings
-- are among those who are blamed for this lack of communication.
A diversity of views is part of the scholarly identity. Diversity
creates and promotes a climate of creativity that can lead to
conflicting opinions and thereby encourage dynamism. Independence
as a part of the intellectual identity could create a fertile
climate for dialog.

-- Kompas, Jakarta