The radical ism movement has the potential to emerge ahead of the 2024 general election . So this could certainly threaten the continuity of the election, which is an important moment for the Indonesian people to create a democratic party by electing a new president and legislative members. Radical and terrorist groups deliberately divide the nation to create chaos in society. This radical group took advantage of the campaign period to spread hate narratives and hoaxes in cyberspace. So this could threaten security and the implementation of the 2024 elections .
Efforts to prevent radicalism and terrorism ahead of the election need to be made by all parties, including the Government, society and the media. In the current era of digitalization, almost everyone is never far from their devices or gadgets. Various information can be easily obtained, both positive and negative information. Content that is often seen in cyberspace can of course influence people’s daily life behavior.
Usually young people or teenagers who are looking for their identity will easily swallow various information from social media whole to form their branding . Of course, there is nothing wrong if the information you get is positive, but what happens if the information you consume every day is negative content such as radicalism. Radicalism is an ideology created by a group of people who want drastic changes in the social and political order by means of violence. Imagine what would happen if the younger generation was exposed to radicalism which is continuously obtained from social media, of course it is very dangerous for their growth and development and the people around them.
Vice President , KH Ma’ruf Amin, said that currently many people have been detected who have been exposed to radical terrorism, not because they were recruited by certain groups, but from social media. Therefore, the government currently has a strategy to counter radicalism, namely through counter-radicalization and de-radicalization. Counter- radicalization is carried out by all Ministries and Institutions , while de-radicalization of terrorism has been carried out by the National Counter-Terrorism Agency ( BNPT ) from an early age . In general, according to the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), the quality of the spread of radicalism has increased, but the quantity has decreased. In fact, currently they have three targets, namely children, teenagers and women.
This condition must of course be the concern of all parties. Moreover, the number of voters from millennials and Gen Z is very large. This threat still has similarities to the elections held in 2019. This, of course, requires concrete action from the security forces so that radical ideology can be suppressed and not be implemented into actions that are detrimental to many parties. Therefore, the younger generation should be able to think critically and be ready to strengthen the values of Pancasila, not be trapped by ideologies that conflict with the values of Pancasila.
Meanwhile, to create a peaceful and conducive situation for the 2024 elections , the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) has terminated access or taken down hundreds of internet accounts and content that were indicated to contain indoctrination activities and the spread of radicalism from July to August . 2023.
According to the Minister of Communication and Information ( Menkominfo ) , Budi Arie Setiadi said that his party is working with the Indonesian National Army (TNI) and the National Terrorism Handling Agency (BNPT) to continue to monitor digital platforms that contain radicalism and terrorism content. Monitoring results from the two institutions show a significant increase in the spread of radicalism content. Some accounts are affiliated with Jemaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) and Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Efforts to prevent radicalism, terrorism and hoax content are carried out to ensure productive and healthy elections for the Indonesian people. Apart from that, public awareness of radical content must also be increased, because if not, society could be influenced, thereby having an impact on their social life.
Terrorism observer , Al Chaidar, revealed that most teenagers can also easily be exposed to radicalism which is embedded with religious values . This is because they are still too young and have very little religious knowledge, so they experience an acute spiritual drought.
As ordinary people , we can easily recognize the signs of a teenager who has been exposed to radicalism nowadays, for example, it can be seen from his thinking tendencies, the references or references he uses, especially his interpretations of the verses of the Al-Quran or the sayings of the prophet that has been said. disallowed with incorrect information. These are several strategies for neutralizing ideas that are considered radical and dangerous using a non-violent approach.
Preparedness itself usually involves community leaders, while counter- radicalization is carried out by increasing counter-propaganda and counter- ideology. Lastly, deradicalization is aimed at former terrorists and terrorist convicts in prison who will then be trained in their religious, national and entrepreneurial qualities. With today’s sophisticated technology, young people have an important role and can help overcome this problem of radicalism. These young people can join BNPT partners such as the Cyber World Peace Ambassadors or in the simplest thing this young generation can do is share positive content that is far from violence, hate speech and also radical ideas.
