By : Iboy Sandi *)
Jakarta, CIDISS – The phenomenon of radicalism are more widely penetrated into the cyberspace shows there is still a gap that could be exploited by radicals and terrorist organizations/group in the further spread of radical. Propaganda efforts radicalization easily spread throughout the world for the development of communication technology, such as the proliferation of applications and social media tools as well as easy access to various social media sites and other online media.
That phenomenon can be said to have become a trend for the terrorist and radical groups in staged propaganda and threats to make people uneasy. Which radicalism is implanted through this cyberspace can be the embryo for the birth of terrorism. Unfortunately, as the development of information technology, causing the chain of radicals groups / organizations globally integrated and can rapidly spread throughout the world, including in Indonesia by targeting various groups or elements of society.
Seeing this phenomenon, the Indonesian government is certainly not remain silent, various attempts have been made to dampen the rapid flow of radical propaganda in cyberspace. Like, monitor up to block against sites deemed radical and could provoke wider community. In fact recently on January 28, 2016, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) has been doing the blocking of 33 websites were rated participate further spread of radical.
At least according to Executive Director of The Political Literacy Institute (Policy) Jakarta, Gun Gun Heryanto, there are three main aspects of the utilization of media literacy to counter radicalism, which is; First, knowledge access of news / information in the media, a minimum of people who will access news already knowing what he would find, thus will help the access of news in translating the news he would receive, so it is likely to be small misunderstanding. The second is a skill, it is associated with how and to what someone is accessing a news story, if someone searches for news from news sources are reliable or from a source that is not clear validity. The third aspect to counter radicalism is about attitude, the most important thing on the news is the position taken by the public after receiving the news, whether to accept it as a truth or reject as contrary to sanity.
Counteracting radicalism that can develop into acts of terrorism that is spread through propaganda in cyberspace is not easy. But whatever the reason, we have an understanding of the intensity of an opponent with a good media literacy. So that people can be smart in selecting and assessing an information / reports in the media, so that the pattern of spread of radical in cyberspace becomes meaningless. [IS]
*) Jakarta Contributor
