JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) – Recent survey shows that 65 percent urban millennial rated Indonesian democracy and politics are still poor. Politicization of religious issues became number one reason (45 percent), followed by hoax (22 percent), corruption (17 percent) and radicalism (11 percent).

Nevertheless, as many as 72 percent of respondents said they would still vote for the presidential and legislative elections. The rising generations turned out to have optimism to realize rational Indonesian politics and democracy.

Those who are interested in democracy (34 percent) want to see politics as a rational instrument through policies that accommodate their needs.

“When asked what made politics interesting for them, some answered the issue of public policy (50 percent) and open debate (27 percent) as a comparative tool to find rationality in politics,” said Indro Adinugroho from the Institute of Public Policy Atma Jaya University, on Thursday (02/28).

The key words of this year’ presidential election for urban youths are: don’t like the politicization of religion, don’t like hoax, and offer rational policies.

While political parties still have to try to gain political trust from urban youths. When parties are not trusted, even good politicians will find it difficult to find a place in the hearts of urban youths. Cognitive distortions created by politicians with shifting directions have the potential to hurt millennial’s trust in politicians.

The perception of urban youth towards Indonesian political parties and politicians is still poor, as many as 984 respondents said they were dissatisfied and very dissatisfied compared to 404 peoples who claimed to be satisfied and very satisfied.

This survey revealed that urban youths consider democracy to be a good form of government for Indonesia because it facilitates the character of those who want everything to be open and transparent. Information disclosure (32 percent), participating in general elections (28 percent), and freedom of expression (26 percent) are the characteristics of a transparent environment. So there is an awareness that democracy is an instrument that helps them to develop.

Related to public policy going forward, the demographic bonus is a very crucial condition for the two-way interests between the state and young people. But the term has not been grounded for urban youth. The majority of them have never heard of this term (53 percent) compared to 33 percent who have heard and 14 percent are still undecided.

In other words, the momentum of national development has not been much debated in the ears of young people. This becomes important when it wants to raise the two-way interaction between the giver and the policy object. Young people as the subject of the demographic bonus moment need to be involved in the discourse process. The potential for bonus demographics rarely asks what young people themselves really want.

In the moment of bonus demography, the most important thing to be prepared is the quality of human resources. Excellent and competitive HR is the key to the success of the demographic bonus. From this survey data, there is optimism from young people to be competitive globally.

As many as 48 percent of respondents claimed to be technological capabilities, followed by 33 percent open minded, networking 11 percent, mastery of foreign languages ​​and rational thinking 4 percent as a set of advantages they believe must have to be able to compete globally. 63 percent said they could compete globally, 33 percent were hesitant and only 4 percent were pessimistic.

In this year’ election, as many as 40 percent of voters came from urban youths. By knowing their perceptions, candidates are helped to form policies that accommodate the interests of youths. Data shows that young people want from the state to provide facilities that enable them to become entrepreneurs. One of them is by providing light credit to start a business.

Having a pilot business itself has become the dominant ideals and lifestyles favored by young people. As many as 73 percent of respondents were interested in having their own start-up compared to 8 percent who did not like it. Some business sectors have also been specifically chosen by urban youth with businesses in the culinary field (37 percent) and design (18 percent) dominating. Next is 8 percent handicraft, 7 percent digital application and 5 percent transportation.

In terms of media use, 71 percent of respondents made social media their main reference, followed by online media 20 percent, and television 5 percent. Their favorite social media platforms are Instagram 57 percent, YouTube 14 percent and Twitter 13 percent. Instagram dominates because it is in line with the information character that is liked by young people, namely visual and shareable illustrations.

A total of 1,161 respondents also claimed to use social media to find information. These results confirm young people as digital natives. The internet is not just a technological facility for them, but also a part of lifestyle. The decisions they make, including in political choices, are very likely determined by what they find on social media.

Young people’ favorite topics are still dominated by daily entertainment and news. Entertainment content as much as 27 percent, followed by News including Politics 13 percent, then Music 13 percent and Traveling 12 percent. This finding is in line with the tendency of politicians today to package their image in popular culture.

This survey was conducted using online platforms in major cities: Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Bekasi, Tangerang, Bandung and Surabaya. The methodology uses a purposive sampling technique with a total participant of 1,388 people. Participants were dominated by groups of women (57 percent), men (40 percent) and 2 percent who did not answer, with educational backgrounds ranging from junior high schools to universities.

Written by Lexy Nantu, Email: lexy@theinsiderstories.com