Retrogression of National Politics
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The political transition season is not yet past. In fact, a number of circles has continued the trend of this situation of uncertainty and inconvenience, managing and strengthening it in order to culminate in the 2019 political battle. National politics is also facing a real challenge.
Different patterns of diversity, from ethnicity to religion, race, inter-groups, group egoism, organizations and interests should have disappeared in the spirit of nationalism, which is the intersection point. This transition season must be heeded because it is usually vulnerable to disease, especially when the "immunity" of our national politics is weakened.
Pattern of reinforcement
The current phenomenon shows symptoms of retrogression, namely the deterioration of the quality of national politics, due to the polarization of political support that raises animosity among supporters. An actual example is the gaping wound caused by the Jakarta gubernatorial election, and some have long been afflicted by a similar "disease" since the Presidential election in 2014.
They frequently transmit the hate virus from one party to another, provoking many people. The abundance of information originating from rumors, gossip, slander, hate speeches, and hoaxes are displayed in public communication channels, especially with the inclusion of the highly explosive issue of ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-groups (SARA).
What needs vigilance is the pattern of reinforcement through incremental communication stimuli, which is managed so it has the potential for instrumental conditioning in building perceptions and actions that are easily manipulated psychologically. Verbal aggressiveness and actions derived from these unilateral claims to truth and egocentrism undermine social cohesion.
The results of a poll by Kompas\' research and development section, comprising 512 respondents in 14 major cities in Indonesia from May 17 to May 19 (Kompas, 22/5), confirmed that the social cohesion which binds Indonesia\'s diversity is problematic. As many as 49.8 percent of respondents admitted that social solidarity is weakening, 13.2 percent of respondents though it was unchanged, 36.6 percent thought it was stronger, and 0.4 percent did not know. This certainly gives a broader view of a phenomenon that should be given serious attention by all parties.
In reading political communication, the reinforcement of political retrogression seems to be occurring through three scenarios. First, the ubiquity scenario. In Latin, ubique means everywhere. This means the presentation of issues that destroy massive and excessive social cohesion. This concept of ubiquity borrows from Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann’s The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion-Our Social Skin (1993). At that time Noelle-Neumann used it to look at the significance of the mass media’s role in influencing the opinions of the majority.
In the contest of the retrogression of national politics, the way is to flood the mass media with news, opinions and conversations, especially partisan television and social media, to provoke a continuous undermining of social cohesion in an attempt to impress upon the formation of majority opinion.
An actual example in social media, for example, is the persecution phenomenon or hunting down those who are considered to be harassing or tarnishing other parties or certain religious teachings. Citizens that become a target of this persecution are usually published with their profile, intimidated, hounded, and humiliated by making their persecution video viral, dragging the target in a public parade to the police, and are generally reported under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE) and Criminal Code (KUHP). It may be that those who become the target of such witch hunts have a social media status that violates existing laws, but arbitrarily sweeping homes and harassing citizens are also threats of social disorder.
The Southeast Asia Freedom of ExpressionNetwork (SAFENET) recorded that in the January-May period in 2017 there were 47 instances of persecution against social media accounts accused of insulting religions or ulemas. It may be that there are many others. This becomes part of the ubiquity scenario to raise issues everywhere in addition to a number of other ways, such as spreading provocation through WhatsApp groups, writing statuses and sharing photos and videos on various social media.
Second, the cumulative scenario.Namely, this involves managing cumulative conflicts among citizens to attain a certain momentum to achieve their goals. We can see this from the continuing clamor of issues that damage social cohesion even though the simultaneous 2017 regional elections, and particularly the Jakarta gubernatorial election, are ended. There is a potential that the politicization of SARA and identity politics will be used again in other regions that are to hold simultaneous regional elections in 2018. Moreover, next year, a number of areas are to become national battlegrounds, such as West Java, Central Java and East Java. The culmination of this scenario is very likely to occur in 2019. The dark shadow that exploits SARA issues in the regional elections and the presidential election may stretch long into the future.
Third, the consensus: a scenario of agreement to work hand in hand by those with electoral interests and those identified as intolerant groups and conservatism flag-bearers, which can also collaborate with organizations that are not fully in agreement with Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika– the pillars of national politics.
Elusive democracy
The retrogression of national politics, if it is left unheeded, will give birth to a democratic recession (decline in democracy). Borrowing the term of Alberto J Olverain his article, ”TheElusive Democracy: Political Parties, DemocraticInstitutions, and Civil Society inMexico”, inLatin American ResearchReview, Vol. 45 (2010), such a recession could lead to elusive democracy, a situation marked by a decline in the quality of democracy as a consequence of the slowdown in consolidation, in both strengthening the capacity of democratic institutions and the maturity of political culture.
One of the most important things in giving meaning to democracy is the democratic ethos. It is not enough to build a democratic system, such as bureaucracies, laws and systems to implement the presidential election and the regional elections. Politicians, candidates and anyone with an interest in political struggle must possess the social responsibility to continually maintain the big house of Indonesia, which was established upon the great efforts of the fighters of this republic.
Factually, Pancasila is the glue to unite the Indonesian nation. Therefore, the principles of Pancasila can become the noble spring, critical to strengthening the democratic ethos.
It is legitimate for politicians to fight for political power, but do not undermine the democratic consolidation that is being pursued by many parties. The strategy to legitimize themselves while delegitimizing others should not materialize in the form of a destructive "bomb" that will devastate people’s lives. The mass media must play the role of democratic participant through their journalism. Citizens must also strengthen their self-capacity and at the same time, have a clear approach to participating as a part of a civilized political wagon.
GUN GUN HERYANTO
Lecturer of Political Communication at UIN Jakarta and Executive Director of The Political Literacy Institute
