ASIATODAY.ID, BALI – The sixth meeting of the Bali Civil Society and Media Forum (BCSMF) 2023 was held in Bali, Indonesia, on 28-29 November 2023.
The forum involving government representatives, community organizations, media and academics from Asia Pacific countries raised the theme “Can Elections Rejuvenate Democracy?”. This activity was held in a panel and workshop format to encourage more useful and constructive dialogue.
“We need to ensure the integrity of elections in increasing democratic values, forming sustainable democracy, as well as increasing synergy in implementing actions, together with civil society organizations (CSOs), the media and the state,” emphasized the Expert Staff for Management at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Acep Somantri when opening BCSMF 2023.
The first panel session discussed the role of civil society and the media in creating a sustainable democracy.
Hasyim Asy’ari, Chairman of the Indonesian General Election Commission, highlighted the democratic transition in Indonesia. He explained that Indonesia is the third democratic country and organizes the most complex general elections in the world.
Meanwhile, the workshop session discussed the challenges and opportunities of maintaining election integrity from disinformation and strengthening women’s involvement in democracy through elections. The results of the discussion were discussed on the last day with a multi-stakeholder framework to fulfill the recommendations that had been prepared.
BCSMF 2023 produces several recommendations, including strengthening women’s political leadership and participation, utilizing social media platforms to increase public awareness of the importance of women’s participation in the policy-making process, and implementing media literacy programs for vulnerable groups.
This program is part of the Bali Democracy Forum (BDF), which is a forum for creating progressive democratic action in the Asia Pacific region through dialogue and sharing experiences.
This forum shows Indonesia’s commitment to fighting for democratic principles by developing internal initiatives and upholding the values of pluralism, diversity and inclusiveness.
This BCSMF activity was held in collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), the Indonesian Press Council, the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), and the Asia Democracy Network (ADN) . (AT Network)
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