THE PLUNGING OF INDONESIAN ARTISTS IN POLITICAL WORLD, A NEW PHENOMENON IN INDONESIA

Along with the change of democratic life in Indonesia, more people who are formerly never touched or even were antipathy with any political matters plunged openly in the political world. Perhaps inspired by the success of Ronald Reagan or Arnold Schwarzenegger, several Indonesian artists such as Rano Karno, Dede Yusuf, until Julia Perez are now interested in the world of politics.

Today, the phenomenon of artist and film actor who jumped into politics is common in Indonesia. Reforms and political democratization since May 1998 has opened up great opportunities for all parties to become politicians in Indonesia, both as members of the central legislature and executive.

Democracy should not apply rules that discriminate against citizens to enter politics so that all people from various groups outside the political parties can offer themselves to plunge into politics. In the country with more than 220 million inhabitants, Indonesia, the most important for a person to plunge to the arena of political struggle is that he should be physically and spiritually healthy, able to organize and direct the government bureaucracy and high enough accessibility in the society. Fro this matter, someone’s organizational skills do not have to be gained solely through a political party, but from other organizations, including the management or management artistry modeling.

However, Indonesian people can judge whether an artist in capable enough to plunge in political world. They will see their choice not because of his or her popularity as an artist but how the candidate can become a representative of people’s voice. For that reason, it will be better if the artist has first jumped into politics by becoming a member of a political party before he fight in the legislative elections, the regional head elections , or even the presidential election.