The General Election Commission of Indonesia (KPU RI) held an anti-hoax, anti-discriminatory politics and anti-money politics event with Fisipol UGM. The discussion was entitled ‘Elections in the Digital Era: Opportunities and Challenges’ and was aimed towards students of Fisipol UGM (20/10).
Arif Budiman as the Chairman of KPU RI was present as the Keynote Speaker; Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak as the Coordinating Spokesperson of the Prabowo Subianto – Sandiaga Uno National Campaign Team; and Aria Bima as the Director of the Joko Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin National Campaign Team also attended as guest speakers.
“Therefore, KPU endorses an election without hoaxes, discriminatory politics and money politics through the social media so that it can reach the public”, as stated by Arif Budiman.
“Regulations regarding internet abuse is not as fast as the growth of the digital world”, as stated by Aria Bima, the Director of the Joko Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin National Campaign Team.
According to him, the digital world is growing with regulations that are stagnated. Hoaxes are not the sole problem that needs to be combated, but black campaigns or negative campaigns as well.
According to Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, the Coordinating Spokesperson of the Prabowo Subianto – Sandiaga Uno National Campaign Team, the public’s low interest to read is also worsened by the presence of the internet. The public is not critical with all of the existing information in the social media, thus accepts everything in the social media.
“The politics in Indonesia is fan club politics, not common-sense politics”, as stated by Dahnil.
According to Dahnil, the public should use common sense in regard to today’s digital world, especially in the times of current political contestation. This is essential so that the public can be smart voters. He also suggested that the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates should be held at campuses so that the differences can be graded by academicians with various perspectives.
The current world of politics is greatly influenced by the developments in the digital era. The social media becomes a platform for certain individuals to campaign their political candidates in this party of democracy. The social media becomes a public space that lacks control. The exchange of information is very active and fast without limits for both positive and negative information. Thus, this condition was the highlight of the speakers at this seminar.
Translated by : Ariq Dmitri Andrei