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Politicizing religion harms democracy, says Atma Jaya poll

Source
Tempo - February 28, 2019

Fikri Arigi, Jakarta – Atma Jaya Institute of Public Policy (IPP) survey revealed 60 percent urban youth across the Greater Jakarta Area, Bandung, and Surabaya agrees the quality of Indonesia's democracy has deteriorated following traces of politicizing religion.

"Politicizing religious sentiments became the main reason with 45 percent backing the argument. Followed by hoax with 22 percent, corruption with 17 percent, and 11 percent blames it on radicalism," said IPP Head Edbert Gani in Atma Jaya on Thursday, Feb. 28.

The institute's data shows that urban youngsters have grown to distrust political parties and politicians in general. Out of 1,388 respondents, there were 767 that do not have faith with political parties and 217 who extremely doubts political parties.

Despite the apparent dissatisfaction, the survey shows respondents agreeing to the fact that democracy is the best option to be applied in Indonesia with 32 percent agrees that it helps information transparency, 28 percent sees the positive in electoral participation, and 26 percent thinks democracy backs people to bear freedom of opinion.

The survey conducted from November 2018 up to January 2019 saw 72 percent of respondents willing to participate in the 2019 general election, 50 percent of them say they are attracted by a candidate's public policy, while 27 percent prefers the concept of an open debate.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1180513/politicizing-religion-harms-democracy-says-atma-jaya-poll

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