By: Firda Wahyuni *
The world of technological era has succeeded in eliminating the dimensions of space in communication and information. Everything is flowing so fast and is able to spread throughout the world. This is also used by radical groups to spread their understanding.
The rapid development of social media in Indonesia can no longer be denied, as seen from the survey results of the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII), active internet users in 2015 in Indonesia were 88.1 million of the total population of Indonesia of 252.4 million and users actively use social media 87.4%.
The data shows that many Indonesians use mass media in their daily lives, this is certainly widely used by certain groups such as the spread of propaganda radicalism through social media.
Hans Spier said that propaganda is the communication activity of the government to its citizens, other citizens in the country and also foreign countries as a government. There are three types of propaganda namely, white, gray, and black propaganda.
White propaganda is carried out by the media in favor of certain political or policy interests. Then gray propaganda is an activity carried out in private. For example, by using journalists to write certain messages addressed to the public so that they are moved and believe and move to do what they want.
Finally there is black propaganda which is a misleading, closed dissemination activity. The aim is to provide information that undermines the opponent’s credibility.
The term radicalism comes from the word radical which means root or basis. As a noun, radical means someone who holds radical views in politics and religion. Radicalism means an understanding created by a group of people who want drastic social and political change or renewal using violent methods.
Radicalism is often associated with the term terrorism which, according to KBBI, is creating fear, horror, or cruelty by a person or group. Terrorism is closely related to the media. Terrorists need the media to convey their threats to the public.
White propaganda is often carried out by radical religious groups. Usually they make sites on the internet under the guise of news sites or portals on religion.
The writings on the site contain substance that tends to lead to certain narratives or messages. These messages can be in the form of invitations to hate religion or other groups or also spread ideas that are not in accordance with the teachings of religion as they should.
While black propaganda is widely seen in cyberspace through misleading writings that twist holy verses and then make them justification in their messages and activities.
Dissemination of information about radicalism by radical groups utilizes internet media as an effective means for radical groups to spread radicalism.
The development of social media which was quite rapid was exploited by radical groups by duplicating websites into the blog network. Various ideas, discourses, narratives, and material that were previously on the website were moved into the blog network.
The use of blogs is realized that bloggers have a wide network, so it is certain that the spread of radicalism will run quickly. Not only on blogs, but on all social media which, of course, the spread of radical understanding through cyberspace is a threat to the security defense of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia. Based on data survey results by APJII above also shows that radicalism is very vulnerable to be spread through internet users or other social media users. Radical groups use various sites such as Blogger, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook for purposes such as dissemination, thought, encouragement, and even recruitment of group members.
The radical propagation of propaganda content certainly has such a huge impact on Indonesian society. Most Indonesians immediately believe what they read and disseminate without knowing the source or re-checking the validity of a piece of information or information obtained. Especially for young people who are easily influenced by information whose truth is uncertain, as most internet connoisseurs in Indonesia they often immediately make the argument as legitimacy for radical actions. This indicates that the next generation of the nation is in danger of being contaminated by radical ideas that can lead to the division of the Indonesian nation.
To deal with radical propaganda content in cyberspace, the government must necessarily close related sites or block access to social networks. The government also needs to strive for the existence of Islamic education in accordance with the spirit of the Indonesian people, overseeing the use of social media by the public through cyber patrols.
However, as an active user of internet services, smart and wise are the main keys in using the internet. With the solutions and prevention above, it is hoped that the people who are supported by government policies can automatically filter out radical content with the philosophy of an Indonesian country that loves peace.
- The writer is an activist of the motherland media
