By : Janu Farid Kesar )*
The young people who will be the next generation of the nation are able to take advantage of the use of sophisticated technology to continue to combat the increasing spread of radicalism, especially ahead of the 2024 General Election like now.
It cannot be denied that radical movements continue to have the potential to become more widespread and emerge, especially ahead of the implementation of the democratic party and political contestation in the General Election (Pemilu) in 2024. In fact, this momentum should be a momentum where there will be a circulation of leadership changes in Indonesia every 5 (five) years and can be welcomed with great fanfare as a ‘party’ by the community. However, with the potential threat of the spread of radical ideology, it will certainly be very disturbing.
When the spread of radicalism continues to occur, of course this will threaten the continuity and smoothness of the General Election. In fact, this activity should be an important moment for this nation to be able to continue to realize and uphold the principles of democracy by electing the President and new Legislative Members.
It is known that radical and terrorist groups are deliberately trying to continue to divide this nation to create chaos in society. They took advantage of the large number of people, including cunningly observing the momentum of the election stage, namely the campaign period, to be able to continue spreading hate narratives and even false narratives or hoaxes in cyberspace.
When guerrilla warfare carried out by propagandists of radical and intolerant movements and ideas continues, it will clearly threaten the success of the General Election which should be carried out smoothly, safely and peacefully. Therefore, efforts to prevent the practice of radicalism and terrorism ahead of the elections need to be carried out by all parties, including the Indonesian Government itself, and supported by the public and the media.
In the current era of digitalization, which allows almost all human activities to be carried out through the digital use of technology and in cyberspace, almost everyone is never far from their respective devices or gadgets.
The reason is, indeed various sources of information can be very easily obtained and accessed from there, but there are also other threats because there is a lot of information flow that is very crowded in cyberspace, so that sometimes even positive information and negative information get mixed up and make people Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between the two.
The various kinds of content presented and very easy to access or view by all elements of society from all walks of life, will not be able to influence how they behave in their daily lives. It is clear that this will be very dangerous if it turns out that the content received by the public is incorrect content.
Usually, young people who are still unstable and are still developing their identity will very easily swallow whole the various kinds of information they get from cyberspace and social media to be able to form their self-branding.
In fact, it is not wrong if, for example, the information they absorb and apply in their daily lives is a positive type of information. However, what happens if it turns out that the information consumed by the nation’s young people is negative content, including the spread of radical ideas?
Of course the answer is that it is very dangerous for the future sustainability of this nation. Because radicalism itself is an ideology created by a group of people who want drastic changes in the social and political order by any means, including violence and anarchism.
It is truly unimaginable if it turns out that the next generation of young people in this nation have been exposed to such understanding, which recently in the run-up to the General Election has been continuously promoted on various social media. It is very, very dangerous if this continues to be ignored because it will really damage their growth and development and also the people around them.
On the contrary, in fact, with the sophistication of technology which is currently continuing to develop, young people also have a very important role in being able to use it positively and help in efforts to overcome the problem of radicalism in the country.
Therefore, BNPT collaborates with various institutions related to disseminating information and forms partnerships with the Cyber World Peace Ambassadors who consist of young people and have a strong commitment to play an active role in disseminating various peace information through websites and lots of interesting content on social media. them, especially in online media and are focused on disseminating information through Tiktok and Instagram.
It is hoped that with the contributions made by the Cyber World Peace Ambassadors, which consist of young people, they will be able to take advantage of the existence of sophisticated technology to continue spreading positive things and help fight the spread of radical teachings ahead of the 2024 elections.
)* The author is a contributor to Ruang Baca Nusantara
