INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DEMOCRACY
Democracy helps us to raise our voices as citizens, and on the 15th of September, we commemorate this International Day of Democracy. The values of freedom, respect for human rights, and the principle of holding periodic and genuine elections by universal suffrage are essential elements of democracy. In other words, it helps to protect human rights and the natural environment as well. The ties between democracy and human rights are included in Article 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
“The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”
There was a time when democracy came into play. Do you remember when Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch and Japan? The speeches of Soekarno were examples of democracy when Japan colonized Indonesia. With the ideology that Soekarno had, the democracy of Pancasila was produced. In this context, Pancasila has the same purpose as democracy. The 5 principles of Pancasila included the rights of every citizen to speak up without any fear. This gives a clear view of how important and necessary democracy is. It has also been used up till now.
Therefore, it’s important to remember the day of democracy as a reminder that our freedom is special, and we no longer need to fear our choices. Especially in this COVID-19 pandemic, there is a spotlight of democracy to take part. There have been so many cases of allegedly false information or “fake news” about COVID-19 around the world. Therefore, democracy is needed to control the flow of information and news.
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