Jakarta – On February 12, 2021, PARA Syndicate held a media discussion on the issue of criticism requests by the government to the public through the ZOOM platform and Youtube Live Streaming from 15.30 to 17.00 WIB. The media discussion was attended by, Puspitasari as Lecturer of Communication at SKSG UI, Arif Susanto of Exposit Strategic, Jusuf Suroso of PARA Syndicate, and Ari Nurcahyo as moderator as well as a colleague of PARA Syndicate. The discussion discussed the government’s requests for criticism that was stated at the end of the year report, Ombudsman RI (8/2), where President Jokowi conveyed that the public must actively criticize the government so that public services can be more optimal. Then this request was amplified at the commemoration of National Press Day by Seskab Pramono Anung, who mentioned that the government needed stern and harsh criticism from the press. This statement has received a wide response from the public and democracy activists.

Ari Nurcahyo of PARA Syndicate and Arif Susanto of Exposit Strategic

The first discussion began with Jusuf Suroso, who discussed the bureaucracy, public services, and the issue of corruption. He said that in 2020, several achievements could be seen from bureaucratic reform such as simplifying the bureaucracy, improving management, simplifying the organizational structure, and transferring structural to functional positions in several ministries. It also shows the efforts made by the ministry of bureaucratic reform to create a clean bureaucracy and prevent corruption. The next discussion was followed by Arif Susanto who discussed the issue of democracy. And the third and last discussion focuses on the communication problems presented by Puspita. “This offer of criticism is good for stretching the face of our democracy, but this criticism opens up new space for President Jokowi nor the government to then prepare to build infrastructure in an institutional way where public participation is involved in a concrete programming process for the public at large,” said Puspita.

Puspitasari gave closing statement

The media discussion then ended with Puspita’s closing statement, “Public participation must start from the awareness of the government and the public where both parties have an awareness that something is a problem that needs to be resolved together. This criticism can be an entry point to build awareness to participate and lead to a change that makes this nation and state better in the future”.

 

Article by: Velika