People\'s Initiatives Must be Triggered

ANTARA FOTO/WAHYU PUTRO

A man signs a banner petition to support an anti-hoax campaign on 10 Feb. 2019 during a Car Free Day event at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS -- The government has the responsibility to trigger civil movements in producing positive narratives, including on social media, that can strengthen the collective image of a diverse Indonesian nation. A strong organic civil movement is believed to be able to curb the negative effects of new media.

This is increasingly urgent as internet penetration is becoming increasingly massive. A survey report from the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) found that there were 27.9 new internet users nationwide in 2017-2018. Today, 64.8 percent of Indonesia\'s population of 264 million use the internet.

Abdullah Darraz of prominent Muslim organization Muhammadiyah\'s library and information assembly said in Jakarta on Tuesday (12/11/2019) that he hoped the government would strengthen people\'s skills to organize and manage social media. Thus far, Darraz said, many local youths could adeptly spread their nationalist views offline but were overwhelmed by cyberspace interactions. Consequently, the cyberspace is dominated by groups and individuals with views that run against Indonesian nationalist perspectives.

"Social media development is like a wave. The choice for us is to learn how to surf or be swept away. With that in mind, the government must strengthen our civil human resources so they can properly surf and spread nationalism content in social media," Darraz said.

Social media development is like a wave. The choice for us is to learn how to surf or be swept away.

Kompas survey involving 520 respondents in 17 big cities in November 2019 found that 60.2 percent of respondents are worried that disinformation or hoaxes on social media may lead to national discord (Kompas, 12/11).

#BijakBersosmed positive social media use movement coordinator Enda Nasution said that concrete government policies based on digital concepts would be needed to sow Indonesian nationalist values. He said the Defense Ministry\'s Bela Negara (national defense) program could be turned into a digital policy.

"A digital national defense program must be made systematically and comprehensively in order to boost the national unity concept from a digital perspective. This way, whenever a narrative that runs against nationalist views crops us on social media, people can counter it immediately," he said.

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

Visitors document President Joko Widodo using their cell phones during a Q&A session following his tour of the Building Indonesia photo exhibition on Tuesday (12/11/2019) at the Neo Soho Shopping Center in Jakarta. People jostled to capture digital recordings of the President for sharing on social media.

Social media institutionalization

Press Council member Agus Sudibyo said that institutionalization would be needed in social media practices. He said that principles of accountability, transparency, responsibility, prudence while speaking in public spaces and maturity must be made inherent in this new media institutionalization.

Agus said the institutionalization of new media could begin through regulations, including by requiring media platforms to be responsible whenever hoaxes or articles spreading hatred appear on them. However, such regulations must not be upheld at the expense of democratic practices through new media, including criticisms, freedom of speech, the voicing of civil rights and the right for people to have dissenting opinions.

Communications and Information Ministry acting spokesperson Ferdinandus Setu said the ministry had implemented several policies to nurture views of nationalism in offline and online spaces, including with digital education on civil groups. Regarding regulating social media, Ferdinandus said that an agreement was reached last week between the ministry and social media service providers in Indonesia, including Facebook and WhatsApp, which agreed to respect the situation in Indonesia.

"We firmly request them to be involved in nurturing our diversity. The involvement of all parties is required to present a healthy digital ecosystem. If they do not comply, we will block them, similar to how we blocked Telegram in 2017," Ferdinandus said.