It’s Not About the Figure—It’s the System That Must Be Dismantled

By Ahmad Rofiq, Chairman of the Gema Bangsa Party

In this country, we too often place our hopes in individual figures. Every time a new personality emerges—seen as clean, intelligent, or charismatic—the public is quickly captivated. But once that person takes office, the old system remains, the elites continue their games, and the people are left disappointed. The problem isn’t who sits in the seat—it’s the seat that’s never been fixed.

This is the reality of Indonesian politics today. We’re busy changing faces, but we forget to dismantle the root of the problem: a system that is centralized, opaque, and transactional. A system that breeds dependence on central elites, weakens public participation, and narrows the space for genuine cadre development.

Gema Bangsa was born to address this issue. We didn’t come to sell personalities—we came to offer a new way of working. In our party, what matters isn’t who’s most well-known, but who’s most ready to serve, who has the cleanest track record, and who is most deeply connected to the people.

We promote a decentralized system—where regions have political autonomy to choose their best candidates. We reject the top-down political culture because we believe those who live in a region know its needs better than elites in the capital.

To dismantle the system means changing how we recruit, how we communicate, how we make decisions, and how we understand power. This isn’t just a campaign promise—it’s a concrete step we’ve taken from day one.

So if you ask, “Who is the central figure in Gema Bangsa?” The answer is simple: the system. Because only a healthy system can ensure politics stays clean—even when the faces change.

We don’t sell names. We build the path.