Reporters crowd Ratna Sarumpaet (right), a member of Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno’s national campaign team, at a press conference held at her residence in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (3/10/2018). Ratna apologized for fabricating claims that she was assaulted on Sept. 21 in Bandung, West Java, which had gone viral on social media along with a photograph showing her bruised face – when she had actually undergone a cosmetic surgery procedure.
Political lies that are mixed with the politics of lies seem to increasingly color Indonesia\'s political landscape ahead of the 2019 general election. Political lies and lies politics even affect many political elites, who further influence the grassroots constituency. However, it is expected that the masses in the lower layers of society is not like dry grass that is easily ignited and burned by short-fused political lies.
An example of a public lie that becomes a political lie is clearly seen in the case of Ratna Sarumpaet, which has shocked the public. To the political elites, she initially claimed to have been beaten by a number of people at Bandung airport on Sept. 21, after attending a conference in the West Java city.
Without verification, the Ratna lie was immediately spread widely by the political elites, the pair of presidential and vice presidential candidates Number 2, on social media and quickly became a political issue. The spread of political lies was intended to discredit their political opponents in the 2019 presidential election.
After the National Police stated they did not find evidence that Ratna was in Bandung on that date — neither at the airport, at the hospital or at the conference — she later announced that she had fabricated a lie. The National Police immediately named Ratna as a suspect and a number of political elites as witnesses.
This political lie was immediately laden and overlapped with the politics of lies. The politics of lies simply means politics without evidence, without verifying the truth or the falsehood of information, facts and related data. Without this process, politics is laden with lies and manipulation, leading to attacks on the political opponents.
Lies politics and political lies can have a broad scope; it is not limited to the case of Ratna. The second example of this type of politics is when there are manipulations or twisting of facts and data about financial and economic conditions or the level of unemployment and poverty. In political contestations, such as the 2019 general election, political lies and lies politics will likely continue. The aim is none other than to undermine the credibility of political opponents so that they are defeated in political contestation.
Ratna’s drama, which continues with the questioning of certain political elite figures in the National Police\'s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), has become a major issue. The shocking power of the controversy that jolts Indonesian politics can only be defeated by the latest news about the earthquake, tsunami and soil liquefaction in Palu, Donggala and Sigi in Central Sulawesi.
Along the history of general election in the Reform era, there have never been such cases, apparently only because many grassroots voters prefer to be quiet rather than do certain actions. So that there is no sociopolitical commotion in the masses; political commotion is more prevalent in the environment of the opposing political elites.
There is quite a lot of literature about the impact of political lies and lies politics on democracy. Many analysts agree, one example of the peak of political lies and lies politics was in the 2016 United States general election, which was won by Donald Trump. As a result, many US citizens lost trust in the government, and became skeptical and apathetic toward politics.
Political lies and lies politics have long been latent in Indonesian general elections. However, a significant increase began to be seen in the 2014 presidential election. Many printed media were produced in combination with social media, which began to spread relatively in a limited way, coloring the political contestation.
It is definite that the political lies and lies politics through social media are increasing ahead of the 2019 presidential election. It is more complicated and troublesome to use print media to spread such politics. Therefore, the massive distribution is carried out through gadgets; the gadgets owners now, like it or not, are forced to be flooded with political lies and lies politics.
Even though police officers are more active in counteracting and cracking down on those spreading hoaxes, expression of hatred, slander, pitting one against the other, insinuation and provocation, the spread of political lies and lies politics continues. Apparently the perpetrators are afraid or deterred by criminal threats. The religious approach through the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) fatwa, for example, to prevent the spread of hoaxes – including in politics – is also ineffective. Political lies and lies politics by manipulating religion remain rampant.
What is the impact of political lies and lies politics on Indonesia\'s political and democratic processes? To get a relatively definite answer, it needs comprehensive research. However, if the 2014 presidential election can be used as an indicator, political lies and lies politics that were quite rampant at that time were clearly ineffective. The voters who have determined to choose certain presidential-vice presidential candidates did not change their minds with the false news and religious manipulation.
However, to ensure the 2019 general election is safe, peaceful, fair and is run with integrity, the political elites involved in the political contestation should avoid political lies and lies politics. They must be more accurate and careful in responding to information about certain events, both in their political circles and in their external environment.
Therefore, the General Election Commission (KPU) should require those involved in the political contestation to not only sign integrity pacts, but pro-truth pacts as well. With the pro-truth pacts, all political elites involved directly or indirectly in the political contestation swear and are fully committed to the truth; they promise not to use political lies and lies politics.
People may be skeptical of the pro-truth pacts, but many of those who sign integrity pacts are still corrupt. With good prejudice, who knows the pro-truth pacts can be useful. Voters and the general public should increase their critical attitude in responding to political issues circulating in their gadgets. Anything that doesn\'t make sense, is not based on credible data and facts, should be deleted. That will
be an effective way to avoid political misleading and socio-political commotion that can threaten democracy and integrity of the Indonesian nation-state. (Azyumardi Azra, Culture and Humanities Professor, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University; Member of the Indonesian Sciences Academy (AIPI))
