The first debates

The debate of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates is getting closer. The moment that should be a space for voters to listen to the views of both pairs of Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, must face serious problems. Ahead of the debate of the two pairs of candidates that has been scheduled by the General Election Commission (KPU) of the Republic of Indonesia, there are issues that lead to distrust of the election organizers. There are issues such as 7 containers of ballot papers, the neutrality of the KPU, to the outline of questions in the debate of the two pairs of candidates. The KPU of the Republic of Indonesia argues that with the outline of questions, it is hoped that the debate of the two pairs of candidates can be more substantive. The question is, is providing an outline of questions really a solution? Given that so far the campaigns of the two pairs of candidates have not touched on substance.

To discuss this, the 2019 Election Edition of the Populi Forum raised the theme “First Debate Grid” on Thursday (10/01/2019) at the Populi Center office. In this discussion, two speakers were present, namely Dahliah Umar (Chair, the Election School Project) and Usep Saeful Ahyar (Program Director, Populi Center).

On the first occasion, Dahliah Umar said that the debate has an important position to provide space for voters to explore what the two candidates cannot reveal. On this occasion, the sharpness of the questions from the panelists is important. In essence, the debate is a forum for voters to be able to assess how each candidate manages their emotions and originality. Dahliah said, "If the debate format is without a grid, then the originality of each presidential candidate can be explored. The public can see how the emotions and originality of each candidate pair are."

However, Dahliah emphasized that the debate outline does not need to be debated considering that this format is only one method to get to know the two pairs of candidates better. This format can certainly change in the next debate if it is considered ineffective. Dahlia said, "The debate format with the outline can basically be a message from the KPU to the public, that the KPU is transparent. However, this format also has weaknesses, where the originality of the two candidates cannot be fully explored."

On the same occasion, Usep Saeful Ahyar said that the provision of debate guidelines does not need to be a problem, considering that with the guidelines it can provide broader explanatory power to each candidate. Usep Saeful Ahyar said "With the guidelines, voters can see the extent of the mastery of details between the two candidates. Because if you look at the vision and mission, both are almost similar, the difference is in the details of each candidate's program."

At the end of the discussion, Dahliah Umar emphasized that it does not matter what debate method is used, as long as the method is decided by the KPU itself. Given that this issue can be related to public trust in the election organizers. In fact, there is basically no best debate format. On the same occasion, Usep Saeful Ahyar said that both candidates would be better able to provide a picture of the choices, if they could explain abstract ideas, while bridging them with measurable details.