On August 4, 2024, PPI France organized a talk show with Rocky Gerung as the guest star. The topic of the event was “Democracy in the Count: Nurturing Hope or Digging a Grave?”. The following are notes from PPI France regarding the talk show discussion.
We must begin to envision Indonesia’s aufgaspunk as a just difference. Because perhaps, all the narratives that speak of unity as the starting point of the nation are actually pushing us into a deeper trough of stagnation of common sense.
Indonesia’s social, political and democratic order as soon as possible must be able to fight in the realm of argument instead of circling in the arena of sentiment. Only by endorsing this idea can the precondition – which is often conditioned – of our society that democracy is only about winning and losing be healed.
As praxis, we need a model of pedagogy – whether based on formal education or not – that seeks to answer everything above the abstract landscape of definitions, values and foundations in our country.
We should look forward to the moment of regime change by drifting with the tide of pessimism, because perhaps the regime in front is no different from the one behind it. However, in the same breath, we must also be able to lift this pessimism to a higher level – a more critical and argumentative one – with the collective spirit we call common sense.
