Politics for the Common Good, Not Just Power
When we hear the word politics, what first comes to mind? Most people will probably answer: a struggle for power, unfulfilled campaign promises, corruption, or conflict among the elite. Coverage of sting operations, political money, and polarisation in every political contest increasingly reinforces the perception that politics is something dirty. As a result, not a few members of the public, especially the younger generation, choose to be apathetic and regard politics as merely a matter for the elite.
Yet, if we think about it more deeply, what we have been witnessing is not the essence of politics, but rather some deviant political practices. Judging politics solely by the behaviour of a handful of its actors is like judging the world of education solely by teachers who breach ethics, or judging the law solely by officers who abuse their authority. The problem is not politics itself, but the way some people practise it.
Since the time of Ancient Greece, politics has in fact been understood as an essential part of human life. The term politics derives from the word polis, meaning city-state. From this developed the understanding that politics is a way of ordering our common life so that various interests can be harmonised and conflicts resolved through agreed rules.
Plato, in The Republic, viewed politics as a path to realising justice. According to him, power is not an end in itself, but a trust that must be exercised by those who possess wisdom and prioritise the public interest. A good state is not measured by how great its leader’s power is, but by its ability to deliver justice for all citizens.
This thinking was later developed by Aristotle in Politics. He called man a “zoon politikon” — a creature that by nature lives in community. According to Aristotle, the state was formed not merely so that humans can survive, but so that they can live well (the good life). Therefore, the aim of politics is to realise the “common good”. This line of thought reminds us that from the outset politics was not intended as an arena for seizing power, but as a means of delivering prosperity for society.
This view remains relevant today. Miriam Budiardjo explains that politics is the process of determining shared goals along with the means of achieving them. Meanwhile, David Easton defines politics as the authoritative allocation of values in society. In other words, every policy taken by government is essentially the product of a political process that will affect people’s lives.
This is in fact very close to our daily lives. When the government builds a school in a remote area, expands health services, repairs village roads, builds dams to support agriculture, or sets the education budget in the state budget (APBN), all of these arise through a political process. Behind every policy there is deliberation, decision-making, the setting of priorities, and ultimately a decision. We may not call it politics, but its benefits are felt directly in everyday life.
Conversely, when an official is caught for corruption or abusing their office, that too is part of political reality. Sadly, people tend to remember failures more readily than successes. Politics ends up being remembered more for its scandals than for policies that genuinely benefit the people.
In my view, political literacy is essential. The public needs to understand that politics is not only about elections, parties, or contests for office. Politics also concerns how the state budget is used, how public services are improved, how laws are made, and how government sets the direction of development. With such an understanding, the public does not remain mere spectators, but becomes capable of critically scrutinising the conduct of government.
On the other hand, those who run the state also bear a moral responsibility to safeguard public trust. Power should be seen as a trust, not a privilege. Policies should be based on the interests of the wider community, not on personal or group interests. Politics practised with ethics will give rise to trust, whereas politics stripped of ethics will only widen the gap between government and the people.
In the end, politics is an inevitability in the life of a nation and state. As long as humans live together, there will always be differences of interest that must be managed through dialogue, deliberation, and decision-making. Politics should therefore not be understood as a mere struggle for power, but as a collective endeavour to realise justice, prosperity, and a better life for all.
It is time we restored politics to its essence. Politics is not the enemy of society. The true enemies are the concealment of power, the loss of integrity, and the erosion of commitment to the public interest. If politics is conducted with ethics, accountability, and loyalty to the people, it will return to the purpose formulated by thinkers thousands of years ago: to be a path towards the common good, not merely an instrument for obtaining and retaining power. For, in the end, the quality of a state is determined not only by who holds power, but by how that power is used to serve the interests of all the people.