The government has issued detailed regulations regarding the prohibition of State Civil Apparatus (ASN) from liking, sharing and commenting on Election participants’ Social Media (Medsos). Member of Commission II DPR from the PAN faction, Guspardi Gaus, supports this regulation to protect ASN or Civil Servants (PNS).
According to Guspardi, the regulations were made as a form of prevention from the government so as not to cause commotion. The aim is to protect, if an ASN shares something about a candidate (the presidential candidate they support), then someone disagrees because they have another candidate, they end up being slandered, bullied and so on. Rather than causing shock, dynamics or slander to the point of causing victims, the government took the initiative to take early prevention by making regulations regarding social media procedures for ASN during the election.
However, he reminded Bawaslu not to be selective. No supporter of a particular presidential candidate went unpunished. Guspardi Gaus said that if you have agreed to ban it, this means the ban must be for anyone. Candidate A should not be excluded, all parties must comply with these rules.
It is known that the rules regarding ASN neutrality ahead of the 2024 elections are regulated in detail, including the use of social media. ASNs are prohibited from uploading, commenting, sharing, liking, or joining or ‘following’ election participants’ winning groups/accounts. These rules are stated in Joint Decree (SKB) Number 2 of 2022 concerning Guidelines for the Neutrality Development and Supervision of State Civil Service Employees in the Implementation of General Elections and Elections. The SKB was signed by five heads of ministries/institutions, namely the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), the Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (Kemenpan-RB), the ASN Commission, and the National Civil Service Agency BPKN).
Head of the Data, Communication and Public Information Bureau of the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, M Averrouce, said that in the SKB point the purpose of the regulations was explained, namely building synergy and effectiveness in fostering and supervising the neutrality of ASN employees and encouraging legal certainty regarding the handling of violations of the principle of neutrality of ASN employees. Meanwhile, the aim of the regulations is to create neutral and professional ASN employees and hold quality elections and general elections. The types of sanctions for these violations for ASN are moral sanctions for closed statements/open statements. Article 15 paragraphs 1, 2 and 2 PP 42/2004; (1) Civil servants who violate the Code of Ethics are subject to moral sanctions. (2) The moral sanctions as intended in paragraph (1) are made in writing and stated by the Civil Service Development Officer. (3) Moral sanctions as intended in paragraph (1) are in the form of: a. closed statement; or b. open statement. Furthermore, the fourth point regulates the use of social media accounts and questions‘like’ , ‘comment’ , and ‘share’ .
In the fifth point, it regulates the uploading of photos with election participants on social media. Upload on social media/other media that can be accessed by the public, photos together with: a. Candidates for President/Vice President/DPR/DPD/DPRD/Governor/Deputy Governor/Regent/Deputy Regent/Mayor/Deputy Mayor; b. The team was successful by showing/displaying symbols of partisanship/using political party attributes and/using photo backgrounds (images) related to political parties/potential candidates (President/Vice President/DPR/DPD/DPRD/Governor/Deputy Governor/Regent/Deputy Regent/ Mayor/Deputy Mayor).
Agreeing with the social media regulations for ASN, Member of Commission I DPR RI Dave Laksono also asked the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) to take part in organizing a campaign via social media ahead of the 2024 elections for all elements of society. According to him, the government must ensure that social media is not used as a medium for spreading hoaxes or fake news.
The reason is, many social media in Indonesia are owned by foreign companies. For this reason, Dave admitted that he was worried that the content shared would not be in accordance with the culture in the country. He also assessed that, even though it cannot be seen directly, as long as there is the possibility of infiltration by foreign parties, we must be careful. Lastly, the public is asked not to be easily provoked if they see content that corners certain figures in the political year. Therefore, it is important for us to always be self-aware and not be easily incited by foreign concepts from the West in politics on social media.
The 2024 democratic party is only a few months away. There is a lot of hope and optimism among the people that the Simultaneous Elections will run peacefully. Entering the political year of the 2024 election, users on various social media platforms have found a lot of political content which sometimes tends to divide unity. For this reason, improving literacy culture is important for society in receiving information from various existing platforms. Don’t easily share information that you don’t know is true,
ASN must also be careful and wise in using social media, considering that there is already a SKB regarding the neutrality of ASN in organizing elections. ASN must avoid election-related controversies on social media, which could result in criminal charges. The celebration of the 2024 election democratic party should be celebrated with a peaceful, happy and happy atmosphere. Don’t let the essence of the word ‘party’ become a tool for conflict between social groups, by spreading slander and hoaxes.