Anticipation of various kinds of content containing indoctrination as well as efforts to spread radical ideas in the digital space is indeed appropriate for all parties to carry out. Because, ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections, the activities of propagandists to spread their teachings are increasing and of course very threatening to the country.
The Director of Prevention of the Special Detachment (Densus) 88 Anti-terror of the Indonesian National Police (Polri), Bigadir General of Police (Brigjen Pol) Tubagus Ami Prindani said that there are indeed many ways propagandists can spread the radicalism and terrorism they adhere to to the masses. wide community.
Some of the ways of spreading this are through religious studies, family relationships and even through digital spaces or social media (social media). In fact, the most appropriate thing to really be aware of and continue to monitor is the spread of radicalism through social media because it has a much greater level of vulnerability compared to efforts to spread it through other conservative media.
Of course it’s not without reason, because the brainwashing narrative that was deliberately released by propagandists in spreading radical teachings and ideas on social media is of course very open and almost without any filter, so that people from various backgrounds and from various circles can easy to access.
As data from the We Are Social report shows, in January 2023 alone the number of active social media users in the country will reach 167 million people. Then, if you look at age again, active social media users in Indonesia are dominated by the millennial generation and also Gen Z, who are still included in the student group.
The existence of habits carried out by the public in using social media, especially among the youth of the nation’s next generation, who often do not first filter what they consume in the digital space, will clearly make the spread of radical ideas more widespread.
Therefore, the entire community, especially young people from the millennial generation and Gen Z, must continue to be alert and increase their caution in receiving and distributing news or narratives and any content from social media, if the level of truth cannot be ascertained. .
Some time ago, it was discovered that there was a phenomenal case of female students being involved in radical groups and terrorist networks at one of the private universities in Indonesia. This case is very complex because the perpetrator himself never met the radical group directly, but he was indoctrinated and brainwashed into understanding radicalism through his social media.
For this reason, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) through the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemkominfo) then immediately moved quickly to anticipate the possibility of the spread of radicalism and terrorism by terminating access or taking down as many as 174 accounts and content in the space. digital which is indicated to contain indoctrination activities and the spread of radicalism from July to August 2023.
Regarding this firm action, Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi then revealed that this effort was indeed in accordance with the directions given by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to be able to create a climate for democratic parties and political contestation in the implementation of the upcoming 2024 elections. walk peacefully.
Not only alone, but the Ministry of Communication and Information has also collaborated with many other parties such as the Indonesian National Army (TNI) and the National Terrorism Handling Agency (BNPT) to continue monitoring digital platforms which contain a variety of radicalism and terrorism content.
Then, the results of monitoring carried out by various parties together with the TNI and BNPT, showed that there was a significant increase in the spread of radicalism content. In fact, there are also some who are affiliated with Jemaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) and Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
The termination of access carried out by the Ministry of Communication and Information for as many as 174 contents and accounts that were found and had been spread across various digital platforms was also in accordance with Law (UU) Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions. With developments in the world of technology and information like today, it has made it very easy for all parties in society to reach or access various sources of information that they want, sometimes even to the point where they are not filtered. Therefore, the existence of the digital space itself is indeed the most vulnerable to the practice of spreading radicalism.
