p–ISSN: 2723 - 6609 e-ISSN: 2745-5254

Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2023 http://jist.publikasiindonesia.id/

Doi : 10.59141/jist.v4i8.664 1027

THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN POLITICAL EDUCATION TO

SOCIETY

Tegar Putra Munggaran

University of Indonesia Depok, Indonesia

Email: [email protected]

*Correspondence

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Accepted

: 03-08-2023

Revised

: 12-08-2023

Approved

: 13-08-2023

Political parties play a crucial role as a means of public political

participation and are expected to serve as institutions for educating the

public about politics. This creates an obligation for political parties to

provide political education to the public. This research aims to analyze

the role of political parties in implementing political education for the

public. The method used is a literature review. Data collection involves

studying various secondary sources, including books, scientific

journals, expert opinions, and other relevant sources related to the

research problem. The analysis is carried out descriptively and

qualitatively to elaborate on the research findings. Political parties are

organized groups with members who share common goals and values,

primarily seeking political power based on their policies. They

encourage political participation by seeking and educating the public to

engage in political activities. The function of political parties in

providing political education to the public aims to enhance the

understanding of good political culture among the public. Political

parties can collaborate with the public in conducting political education

through political socialization, political education, and campaigning.

Such political education should help prevent the occurrence of money

politics, black campaigns, and vote-buying during elections.

Keywords: Political parties;

Political education; General

elections; Public political

participation.

Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Introduction

Indonesia is a democratic country, where the government stands based on the

mandate of the people, and at the same time, the people have the task to guard its

sustainability. This then shows that the main strength of democracy lies in the ability of

its citizens to escort the process of government (Haerul, 2019). Therefore, in the

implementation of democracy, the political role of the community is needed so that

what the community aspires to achieve for their country. This then shows the important

role of political participation (Achmad, Tanjung, & Nay, 2022).

The political participation of the Indonesian people in the last 6 general elections

can be said to be quite good. Figure 1 shows the level of political participation of the

Indonesian people in the last 6 general elections (Alina, 2022). This shows that there is

a fairly good participation rate in the general election of Oman in Indonesia which has

reached 81.9 percent in the 2019 Presidential and Vice Presidential elections, although it

can be noted that this has decreased to 76.9 percent in the 2020 in the general election of

Regional Heads (Gusmansyah, 2019). The decline may be due to its implementation

during the Covid-19 pandemic (Solihah, 2016).

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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 4, No. 8, Agustus 2023 1028

Figure 1

The level of political participation of the Indonesian people in the last 6 general

elections

This then shows that although the level of political participation of the Indonesian

people can be said to be quite good, this shows the need for improvement. One of the

efforts to increase the level of political participation in the community can be achieved

by conducting political education (Hermawan, 2020). Political education refers to a

series of activities and activities carried out to be able to fulfill the objectives of forming

moral values and shaping one's political orientation. Political education in the field can

encourage the level of public participation in state political activities (Isyanawulan &

Hendarso, 2023).

Political education is a process that teaches people about political values, norms,

and symbols, one of which is through the role of political parties (Sinaga, 2021). The

constitution has given political parties responsibility for the means of political

participation. This then makes it an important part of the democratic state order and at

the same time a characteristic of political modernization in a country (Wahyudi &

Adnan, 2019). The role of political parties in carrying out political education has been

mandated by the state through Law Number 2 of 2008 concerning Political Parties in

Article 11 paragraph (1) letter a, which reads: "Political parties function as a means:

political education for members and the wider community to become Indonesian

citizens who are aware of their rights and obligations in the life of society, nation, and

state".

People's participation in political activities must then be based on an adequate

understanding of politics. This requires adequate political education provided by

political parties (Komariah & Kartini, 2019). Political education carried out by political

parties is not only limited to the cadres of the political party itself but to all elements of

society (Setyarini, Noor, & Purnomo, 2023). Therefore, political parties then have a

role as a means of community political participation which must be supported by their

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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2023 1029

role as community political education institutions. This then presents an obligation for

political parties to provide political education to the public (Aprilya & Fadhlain, 2022).

Political education is one of the important functions that must be played by

political parties. Political education is a process of teaching the public about political

values, norms, and symbols through the media in the form of schools, governments, and

political parties (Sahabuddin, Latief, & Anwar, 2020). Political education shows the

process of learning about political knowledge carried out to form politically aware

individuals. According to Kartono, political education leads to educational efforts so

that it can create individuals who are politically aware and have responsible political

actors. Political education then shows a conscious effort in interpreting the attitudes and

behaviors of individuals and society so that they understand and live the values

contained in an ideal political system that wants to be built within the context of society

and the country in which they are (Jandevi, 2019).

There have been various preliminary studies that have been conducted in

analyzing the role of political parties in political education to the public. Hermawan

analyzed the role of political parties in political education to the public with a focus on

campaign efforts carried out by political parties carried out through various media.

Another research was conducted by analyzing based on the perspective of the legal

politics of the laws and regulations. In addition, some analyses are based on current

legislation and Islamic law (Kodiyat & Andryan, 2021). Analysis of the role of political

parties in political education has also been carried out through reviews that focus on

specific parties, such as research focusing on the Prosperous Justice Party. This can

also be done by focusing on the area of implementation of political education such as

studies conducted in Medan City and Campalagian District.

Based on the background of the study, this study aims to analyze the role of

political parties in political education for the community.

Research Methods

This research was carried out with a skin-active research method with a literature

study approach. A literature study is a scientific and theoretical study conducted on

several references in various scientific literature. The scientific literature can be in the

form of books, scientific journals, expert opinions, and so on. Therefore, data collection

in this study is carried out by conducting document studies on various secondary

sources including books, scientific journals, expert opinions, and other sources relevant

to the research problem. The data that has been collected is then analyzed descriptively-

qualitatively to describe the research findings. Qualitative descriptive analysis will

provide a simple qualitative approach where the explanation begins with an explanation

of an event that is the focus of research so that a generalization can then be drawn that

is used as a conclusion from the study. The validity and reliability of the data will be

tested using triangulation of data sources. In this case, the data obtained are cross-tested

between one source and another so that reliable and valid data is obtained.

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Results and Discussion

1. Political education by political parties

Political parties can cooperate with the community in conducting political

education which in practice can be carried out with several efforts including the

following:

1. Political socialization

Political socialization shows a series of processes that target a person so that he

has a certain attitude and orientation in the political phenomenon in which he is. This

socialization process occurs continuously from childhood to adulthood. The process of

political socialization can have many forms including lectures, courses given to parati

cadres, upgrading, and so on. Political socialization serves to develop and strengthen

people's political attitudes. This can involve various parties including families, schools,

and other institutions to increase people's political knowledge. Political socialization

serves to increase public knowledge and understanding of political life and encourage

maximum participation in people's political life.

2. Political education

Political education refers to a series of organized and effective activities carried

out deliberately and systematically to shape individuals to be ethically responsible

participants in achieving political goals. Political education shows a dialogical process

between the school environment, government, and political parties towards individuals

carried out to increase understanding, appreciation, and practice of political values,

norms, and symbols that are considered ideal and good.

Political parties can conduct political education through various media. The party

can conduct internal recruitment to conduct cadres, hold meetings, or open restrictions,

conduct various social activities, and publish information through the media. And so on.

It's just that, among the media, the media that political parties often use to reach larger

constituencies are mass media, both print and electronic. Print media can be newspapers

and magazines or other tabloids and bulletins, while electronic media can be radio,

television, and currently the internet. The use of social media in today's era has become

one of the channels in important political education, especially when political parties

target the younger generation.

3. Campaign

Campaigning is one of the most common forms of political education by political

parties. Campaign activities are generally carried out in the moments before the general

election. This is done by gathering as many masses as possible in a place. This was

followed by attracting the sympathy of the masses by making speeches containing the

party's goals. In addition, it also presented the programs that will be run by the political

party, if the party wins the general election in the future. The campaign is one of the

educational means carried out to influence the masses as much as possible with the aim

of winning seats in general elections.

Political education is important to ensure that people have a comprehensive

understanding of democracy, the electoral system, and the party system. These three

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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2023 1031

issues are rudimentary, which people should know before they participate in political

activities such as elections. With these three things, voters have a mature mind in

addressing political dynamics and do not ignore the democratization process in the

country.

4. Functions of political education by political parties

Political education is expected to form a society that has a good political culture.

Political culture shows the attitude and orientation of citizens towards the political

system and its parts including attitudes to the role of citizens in it. The existence of a

good political culture in society can be characterized by avoiding society from political

deviations as follows:

5. Money politics

Money politics is an attempt to influence others by using material rewards or can

also be interpreted as buying and selling votes in the political process and power and the

act of distributing money either personal or party property to influence voters' votes.

The existence of money politics causes high political costs for contestants, which then

raises the potential for corruption in the future. Political education is then seen as one of

the good ways of prevention in overcoming the existence of money politics.

Political education is carried out to increase people's political awareness so that

they can carry out their political activities, especially in general elections, which avoid

money politics by showing an attitude that firmly rejects and reports all money political

practices. Political education to avoid money politics can be done by encouraging

candidates, and successful teams not to lure or promise to give something to the public

to vote for legislative and executive candidates. Meanwhile, the public is advised not to

accept anything either in the form of money or goods and/or certain promises from

successful teams or candidates in exchange for voting in general elections.

6. Black campaign

The term black campaign comes from the English black campaign which means

how to campaign badly or maliciously. This refers to campaign efforts carried out by

spreading the ugliness or ugliness of a politician to bring down the good name of a

politician so that he becomes disliked by his party friends, the audience of his

supporters, and the general public. The black campaign leads to violations of the

provisions of laws and regulations regarding General Elections in Indonesia.

Black campaigning is an illegal political activity, therefore political education is

needed to prevent public involvement in illegal political activities. The Black campaign

had a devastating impact on political education. This is because this type of campaign

justifies all means including dirty practices such as falsification of information and

complaints. If political education is not obtained by the people, it can be said that the

quality of democracy is built in bad conditions. Good education in the campaign process

is so that the public knows the ideas brought by political candidates, educates about

ideas and solutions for the country, and always provides factual campaign information

to the public.

7. White Group

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Low political knowledge has caused people to ignore various political issues and

activities. This has then caused people to become apathetic to the current political

dynamics and various processes of democratic stages. This can ultimately cause people

to be reluctant to participate in elections. The reluctance of the public to participate in

politics can be seen in people who do not exercise their right to vote during the general

election, commonly called the white group (logout). This phenomenon is widely found

in various countries, including Indonesia.

Political education then became one of the ways that was seen as effective to be

able to increase public participation in elections and reduce the white group. Political

education is considered to provide a learning process and understanding of the rights,

obligations, and responsibilities of every citizen in the life of the nation and state. This

is mainly related to the political participation of citizens carried out to be able to

encourage development. Political education will then provide an understanding of the

importance of political participation that can be used to direct the government in the

interests of citizens.

8. Analysis of Findings

Political parties as the driving force for the establishment of democracy are a

means for citizens to participate in the process of state administration and a means to

achieve goals that lead to the control of political office for elite members of political

parties. Increasing people's political participation requires political awareness that can

be achieved through political education. Political education can only succeed when

political institutions can perform their roles well. Therefore, political parties in

increasing political participation then need to play an important role in political

education.

Political parties encourage political participation by seeking and educating the

public to participate in political activities. This is by the function of political parties

according to Budiardjo, namely as a means of political communication, a means of

political socialization, a means of political recruitment, and a means of managing

conflicts. Political parties as a means of political communication must be able to

channel public opinions and at the same time regulate these opinions to prevent

confusion of opinion in society. As a means of political socialization, political parties

are tasked with disseminating politics itself with the expected results in the form of

people who have attitudes and orientations towards political phenomena in a country.

Political parties as a means of political recruitment have caused political parties to try to

gather members who are considered talented to actively participate in political activities

as party members. Finally, in its function as a means of managing conflict, political

parties play a role in efforts to overcome potential conflicts in society generated by

competition and differences of opinion in society.

Based on this explanation, it can be concluded that a political party is an

organized group and its members have the same orientation, and values of the same

ideals with the main goal of obtaining political power based on their wisdom. Political

parties encourage political participation by seeking and educating the public to

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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2023 1033

participate in political activities. The function of political parties in providing political

education for the public aims to increase people's understanding of good political

culture.

9. Discussion

Political education is a process of teaching the public about political values,

norms, and symbols through the media in the form of schools, governments, and

political parties. Political education leads to conscious efforts made by an institution or

body to influence people's political knowledge so that an ideal understanding and

appreciation of values in a political system that the country will build. Political

education is important, especially in encouraging the involvement of the younger

generation who have an awareness of the life of the nation and state based on Pancasila

and the 1945 Constitution. It is also seen as a means in the development of Indonesian

people so that it will be seen in how they behave in social life.

Political education is expected to encourage a change in people's attitudes from

apathy and passivity to active, full of initiative, advanced, and democratic, towards

political problems in a country. It is based on the idea that everyone is expected to be

able to participate in the development of society and the country by participating in

political activities. Citizens are also required to be active in efforts to dynamize and

renovate community institutions, and their political systems. In the end, political

education expects a change in people's attitudes, especially in the form of political

participation.

The findings in this study show that political parties carry out their role in political

education by collaborating with the community through political socialization, political

education, and campaigns. In addition, it was also found that political education has a

function to prevent people from implementing negative political cultures such as money

politics, black campaigns, and white groups. This then has practical implications that

political parties must be able to design the right strategy in implementing political

socialization strategies, political education, and campaigns to increase people's political

participation and at the same time build a good political culture in society. Moreover,

the theoretical implication of this research is that the implementation of a good political

education by political parties will contribute to the formation of people's political

culture by avoiding money politics, black campaigns, and white groups. The limitation

of this research lies in the approach method used, namely by using literature studies.

This then leads to the need for empirical research in the future in reviewing political

education practices carried out by political parties to be able to provide deeper insights

into their practice in society.

Conclusion

This paper has analyzed the role of political parties in the implementation of

political education for the community. Based on the analysis that has been done,

research findings show that political parties can cooperate with the community in

conducting political education which in practice can be carried out by political

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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 4, No. 8, Agustus 2023 1034

socialization, political education, and campaigns. Political parties have various

functions, including the crucial one as a means of political socialization and a means of

political recruitment. This is done by conducting political education through the search

and recruitment of people to participate in political activities. It also involves political

education to increase people's understanding of good political culture.

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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 4, No. 8, August 2023 1035

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