REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars Across Indonesia (ICMI) Prof. Arif Satria said Indonesia's political system needs to be evaluated in total so that the goal of building a nation's civilization can be achieved.

“I think that after a thorough look at the way our political system works, it looks increasingly non-inclusive and there should be a total evaluation to improve it,” Arif said in a statement in Jakarta on Saturday.

The rector of IPB saw the implementation of Indonesian democracy as increasingly expensive. These conditions have led to increasingly less inclusive political practices. According to him, Indonesia's current political system is increasingly biased only for those with money due to increasingly expensive democracy.

Moreover, the transactional approach in political practice during this time has increasingly moved away from high politics. “Even the legislative elections became a political event for money,” Arif said.

Looking at the conditions, Arif worries there will be a shift in a political culture that tends to materialistic and only side with politicians with large financial capital backing.

“I fear that over time a system like this will form a materialistic political culture. Only those with large capital or backed by large-capitalized investors can exist in politics,” he said.

Arif said such circumstances are clearly counterproductive to the ideal of building a nation's civilization that should be politics is a tool for building civilization, not simply a power struggle without ideas.

The solution to this situation is to conduct a total evaluation of the Indonesian political system so that the Indonesian nation returns to the ideals of the founders of the Republic of Indonesia.

“Politics is an institution to fight for the realization of the ideals of the Indonesian nation,” he said. Arif presented this idea at a political discussion on “Election 2024 and the future of local democracy” in Jakarta, Friday (5/7).