As is known, Boy Rafli Amar as the Head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) encourages efforts from campus institutions to increase student resilience from the influence of intolerance and radicalism.
Boy believes that the resilience of these students needs to be improved because as a generation that is familiar with cyberspace, they are vulnerable to being influenced by intolerance and radicalism that is easily spread by intolerant and radical groups through social media. Therefore, the author agrees with the Head of BNPT that young people need to be directed, reminded, and guided so that they are not easily part of the spread of these ideas.
The author hopes that, in addition to the efforts of campus institutions, there is also a need for the role of the younger generation such as students in preventing the exposure of intolerance and radicalism, such as producing counter-narrative content in the digital space so that the development of the seeds of intolerance and radicalism that are harmful to the security and integrity of the nation in digital space can be stopped.
Students can also ward off radicalism through social media. Like through an Instagram or Facebook account, if students see signs of radically charged content, students can immediately report so that the accounts of those spreading radical ideas are forcibly closed by the social media manager. With this action, students have prevented no more people from being exposed to radicalism in cyberspace.
Students in Indonesia today are also very creative in creating content that can be uploaded on social media. They can fill the counter-narrative content that is produced with things related to values to develop life in the spirit of harmony, togetherness in the midst of the diversity of the nation.
The author argues that there are many things that can be collaborated and synergized with campus institutions to prevent and eradicate the spread of radical terrorism in the university environment which is already very alarming. Such as raising the narrative of national insight to students by holding a national dialogue program to provide insight to new students.
To achieve this, of course, it is necessary to make a policy to deal with radical understanding in the form of counter-narratives. Campuses need to make more efforts to introduce the Pancasila ideology in real to their students and implement the Pancasila ideology in real terms, so that students no longer dream about other ideologies, because Pancasila is considered to be able to provide answers to what they want.
Regarding what has been mentioned, Widodo as the Chancellor of Universitas Brawijaya said that they have discussed a lot about the implementation of programs and cooperation as an effort to prevent and minimize the entry of radicalism and terrorism into the campus environment. These efforts refer to the tridharma of higher education including education, research, and community service.
According to the author, the presence of the Head of BNPT and his staff to campuses provides reinforcement for efforts to anticipate and minimize the spread of intolerance and radicalism in the campus environment through several programs and institutional formation.
From the author’s point of view, there are concrete efforts that can be made by higher education institutions. This is to build educational institutions that are comfortable to develop moderate and tolerant attitudes and foster tolerance values in accordance with the values of Pancasila. These efforts can be in the form of developing arts and sports extracurricular activities that can build togetherness, because closed attitudes and reluctant to socialize will be easily influenced by radical thinking.
In addition, the role of students today is very important. They not only go to campus to study, but also organize and support government programs. One of the main roles of students is to prevent radicalism from spreading widely in Indonesia, because radicalism can undermine the country from within.
In this case, it is necessary to invite students to counter radicalism, especially in the campus environment. Student participation is very strategic in countering radicalism. This is because the position of students who are pursuing higher education is very vulnerable to being exposed to radicalism because students are in a period of searching for identity.
Religious moderation is one of the right things to be echoed on campus in an effort to increase student immunity to ward off radicalism. With religious moderation, it will prevent extremism which will lead to radicalism and terrorism. Students can also promote religious moderation as a way to counter radicalism.
Furthermore, the campus also provides material for Pancasila education which is carried out at the beginning of the lecture semester. Of course, this will make students equipped with more rational views first, so they are not easily influenced by views that tend to be fundamentalist.
Thus, students have strong Pancasila ideological roots so they are not easily influenced by radical understanding. BNPT’s efforts to visit campuses are also very helpful in increasing student immunity in countering radicalism. The author hopes that in the future there will be no more radicalism that can affect students so that the nation’s young generation is free from the threat of radicalism.
*The author is a contributor to the Bunda Mulia Institute
