Be wary of the rise of Propaganda Media in Places of Worship Before the 2019 Election
By: Hilda Fitria *
After the People’s Torch intended to be published, a politically charged tabloid called “Indonesia Barokah” appeared ahead of the 2019 presidential election (pilpres) contest. The tabloid was distributed to a number of pesantren and DKM. Even the tabloids containing the utterances of tendesius were also distributed to the homes of residents. The area of distribution includes areas in West Java and Central Java. In Tasikmalaya there were more than 3000 copies in circulation, the delivery of this tabloid was aimed at Islamic boarding schools and DKM.
In addition, the Kaffah Bulletin also appeared with content that attacked the incumbent presidential candidate. The ballet was considered to contain a black campaign that attacked candidate number 01.
“Clearly the presidential election has many tabloids and bulletins whose content has cornered the presidential and vice presidential candidates. We regret it very much, “said Eric Thohir as Chairman of the Jokowi – Ma’ruf Amin National Campaign Team.
The emergence of the media in various mosques will certainly add to the noise ahead of the election and potentially damage democracy in Indonesia. Elections that should be held happily, damaged due to incitement and propaganda from certain groups. Although propaganda is a long-standing thing in the political sphere, lately propaganda has always been associated with a manipulative approach and often makes it identical to hoaxes.
Erick Thohir asked the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) to be serious in handling black campaigns spread through bulletins or tabloids.
“We received a report on the bulletin that was circulated in a number of Islamic boarding schools in the West Java region. We will report to the police, “he said.
He also claimed to agree with the statement of vice president Jusuf Kalla (JK) who requested that such tabloids or bulletins containing propaganda be burned.
“Mosques are not a means for politics. “Don’t tarnish the sanctity of the mosque,” said Erick.
The form of black campaign is seen in the 074 edition of the narrative published in January. This bulletin is in line with Say No To Jokowi’s flyers by raising the question of supporting the failed and broken promises. This explains the red thread of the black campaign to Jokowi by using religious arguments. In the Say No To Jokowi leaflet, there is the hashtag # 2019, Change to President. This indicates that black campaign producers are the same political group.
The next edition of the Kaffah Bulletin clearly defended the candidate pair number 02 in relation to the Al-Qur’an reading test using religious arguments. This clarifies who is behind the Kaffah bulletin. The bulletin was published and circulated every Friday at mosques. Of course the printing of the media is for political purposes ahead of the presidential election. That is by supporting candidate number 02 and vilifying number number 01.
Ace Hasan Syadzily also said that the target of distributing the bulletin was Muslims who attended Friday prayers. So that it can be stated clearly who did the politicization of the mosque and made it a place of campaign. The head of the Indonesian Mosque Council in Jakarta, Ma’unun Ayyubi, said the circulation of several tabloids smelled of SARA and provocatives in mosques was quite disturbing. Therefore, the missionary views that the content and discussion need to be straightened out.
For this reason DMI DKI Jakarta has an initiative to counter the circulation of provocative tabloids that enter mosques. Like the Indonesian bulletin and the Barokah tabloid. It has thought of a solution to the problem, among others by making a da’wah bulletin program to guide Muslims in reducing the circulation of provocative tabloids and bulletins in mosques ahead of the April 2019 election.
“The da’wah bulletin will continue to be circulated every Friday before the Friday prayer by the Jakarta Province DMI,” said Ma’unun.
He made sure that the Jakarta DMI bulletin would be routinely made and circulated in mosques. Even this has also been realized with the publication of the Friday Bulletin in February with the theme “Towards Rida Allah”.
“Many years of slander politics spread everywhere. Do not make us become divided just because different choices cause us to break the relationship between brotherhood, friendship, and break up the unity of the nation that was built together, “he concluded.
Society in particular Muslims, of course, must be clever in sorting out various content and media that contain provocative content ahead of the presidential election, so that neither incitement nor propaganda wrapped in religion can damage the sense of unity.
* The author is an observer of socio-cultural problems