REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- President Joko Widodo noticed issues relating to religion, race, tribe and between groups (SARA) in Indonesia spread easily nowadays. He said education is one of the causes. Beside that, economic states also played its own part. 

"Education, economic states and political influences merged into one and are resulting in the people becoming prone to be aggravated by SARA related topics," he said.

Jokowi said the people are still consuming SARA issues even after political events have finished. It was because they have been politicized.

For that reason, the President hoped that all electoral candidates, success teams and elites in politics and political parties, would play their role in educating the mass public.

Also read: Jokowi says three causes to rapid spread of SARA issues

"The arguments and debates should have been finished by now and we should all have been back to work. That is how it is supposed to be," he said.

On a national scale, the President predicted that this preoccupation with issues will continue until the 2019 general elections, however, he is confident that as time goes by, society will become more mature.

"All of these elections will make society smarter and more mature. This might be a transitional phase, but at some point, they will be more intelligent and have a better understanding about the situation," he said.

This is a part of our democracy and learning process, as well as the process of political maturing that the nation will have to go through," he concluded.

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