The 2024 General Election (Pemilu) is getting closer and has now entered the campaign stage. The General Election Commission (KPU) noted that based on the results of the recapitulation of the Permanent Voters List (DPT), the majority of voters in the 2024 elections are dominated by young people, namely generation Z and millennials. Therefore, it is important for the public, especially first-time voters, to be aware of black campaign practices ahead of the 2024 elections, because one thing that often appears in the media is black campaigning.
As many as 66 million people or around 33.60 percent of voters come from the millennial generation. Meanwhile, voters from generation Z are more than 46 million people or around 22.85 percent of the total DPT for the 2024 Election. If accumulated, the total number of voters from the millennial generation and generation Z groups is more than 113 million people or around 56.45 percent of total number of voters.
Of the many forms of campaign that can be carried out, it turns out that there are still many election participants who carry out black campaigns . The black campaign itself is a negative activity carried out by political actors or activists in order to bring down their political opponents. Black campaign activities according to the Election Law (UU) are usually related to violations of the code of ethics for election organizers, violations of election administration, election disputes, and election crimes including the practice of money politics.
Apart from that, the black campaign itself can also be carried out by spreading false information regarding one of the opposing candidates, carrying out activities that threaten the integrity of the state, pitting people against each other, removing campaign props, or threatening the public not to vote for the opposing candidate. Judging from current technological developments, the black campaign phenomenon is often easily found on various social media platforms, so that quite a few people are affected by this and it ends up worsening the election situation.
Executive Director of Charta Politika Indonesia, Yunarto Wijaya, said that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology could potentially be used by election participants to spread hoaxes and black campaigns. Of course, the public and law enforcers must be aware of this. He also said that AI should be used properly to quickly and creatively disseminate superior work programs for election participants.
Meanwhile, according to Brawijaya University Political Observer, Wawan Sobari said that new voters must increase their awareness of black campaign practices in the 2024 Election. New voters must be able to recognize whether the content of the campaign contains elements of hate that should be filtered or not. According to him, young people must be able to take a stance on news related to the 2024 election intelligently and critically so as not to be trapped in black campaigns.
To overcome this black campaign, he suggested that people from all generations play an active role in reminding each other about the dangers of falling into black campaigns. Apart from that, social media activists can create positive content related to the election, including content containing guidelines to avoid black campaign activities, so that other young people can prevent black campaigns.
Furthermore, Wawan Sobari asked political actors not to use black campaigns as a means of attracting votes from young people. This is because novice voters are still easily influenced due to their weak political knowledge. Don’t play up religious issues or racial issues that have the potential to offend a particular group.
On the other hand, Chairman of the Cirebon City Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), M. Joharudin, told the public not to be influenced by counter-productive things related to the 2024 Election, such as money politics or black campaigns. Moreover, the momentum ahead of the 2024 election is predicted to be hot.
Black campaigns on social media are the easiest activities to play political narratives. In fact, M. Joharudin said that creating social media accounts for black campaigning could be done without spending any money, so the younger generation needs to be wary of it because this content will very easily influence people’s thoughts and emotions.
Mr. from various agencies including the police to take action against any suspected violations.
If this happens, the person concerned will be subject to sanctions, and the heaviest sanction is disqualification from participating in the election. Bawaslu and the KPU have strictly implemented regulations for election participants who are proven to have committed violations. This is because fraud in elections is an action that can tarnish the spirit and dignity of democracy in Indonesia.
In this way, it is hoped that the community, especially the younger generation and first-time voters, can play an active role in monitoring and supervising the election implementation process. If they find any suspicions, the public does not need to hesitate to report it to the authorities for immediate firm action. The public also needs to be alert to political movements that lead to fraudulent practices ahead of the 2024 elections so that an honest and fair democratic party can be created.
