As the 2024 election approaches, the potential for the emergence of radical groups is increasingly massive. The spread of radical ideas through social media platforms is a serious threat to society, especially the younger generation who more often use gadgets as a routine search for information. All parties, including generation Z (Gen Z), must be alert and prevent the spread of this ideology in order to create an internet world free from radical content.
Currently, millennials and Gen Z are the groups that dominate the 2024 election. Based on data from the General Election Commission (KPU), these two groups contribute 56.45 percent of the total voters in the upcoming election. In this way, young Indonesians must be smart to be wary of radicalism and terrorism movements and attacks ahead of the 2024 elections.
The Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ma’ruf Amin, said that radicalism and terrorism movements will have the potential to flourish ahead of the 2024 elections. All elements of society are asked to commit to monitoring social media so that it is not used as a place for spreading radical content by individuals who want division. The Vice President also asked all parties to understand all forms of risks from radicalism so that they are not easily exploited and brainwashed by intolerant people to influence and divide the nation.
Furthermore, Ma’ruf Amin said that it was important to strengthen collaboration between parties to ward off terrorism collectively. Ma’ruf Amin appealed to prioritize counter-radicalism and de-radicalization steps to return people who have been exposed to radicalism. In this way, efforts to prevent radicalism and terrorism can be carried out together.
In line with Ma’ruf Amin, Banteng Muda Indonesia (BMI), which is a wing of the PDI Perjuangan party, continues to strive to educate young people so that they are not indoctrinated by radical ideas. Head of the Political and Security Division of the DPP BMI, Mixil Mina Munir, said that currently radicalism among young people is very large. This ideology fights for its ideals of replacing the Pancasila ideology with a caliphate system.
Mixil also added that patterns often used by intolerant people are using identity politics, producing hoax content, spreading hatred, and even politicizing religion. Radicals do not hesitate to carry out their propaganda on social media and politicize religious holidays to attack the Government. All of this is used as fuel to gain electoral support.
Even though there are several radical groups that have been disbanded by the Government, there are still many members who are active in carrying out hidden radical movement patterns by changing the name of their organizational groups. In the 2024 elections, all elements of society should be suspicious of all forms of hidden efforts by members of this group. Of course, this will seriously endanger the holding of a democratic party if radicals succeed in taking over power.
Meanwhile, to create a peaceful and conducive 2024 election situation, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) has made efforts to cut off access ( take down ) to 174 accounts and content on the internet which are indicated to contain indoctrination activities and the spread of radicalism.
Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi said that his party had collaborated with the TNI and BNPT to monitor digital platforms that contained radicalism and terrorism content. Monitoring results show that there has been a significant increase in the spread of radicalism content, and it was found that several accounts on the digital platform were affiliated with Jemaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) and Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Based on a report from the Directorate General of Informatics Application Control at the Ministry of Communication and Information, of the 174 contents found, social media Twitter dominates radical content, followed by Facebook, Instagram and then YouTube. On this basis, Kominfo swiftly immediately cut off access to radicalism and terrorism content in accordance with Law (UU) no. 19 of 2016 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions.
Efforts to prevent radicalism content on social media in order to ensure that the 2024 elections can take place in a healthy and productive manner for the Indonesian people. Negatively charged content can only destroy peace in the digital space ahead of the democratic party. In fact, the essence of holding the 2024 elections is to unite the nation’s children and contribute to improving the quality of democracy.
Therefore, Indonesian people, especially the millennial generation and Gen Z, must be able to play a role in maintaining a safe digital space by spreading positive content. The younger generation is also expected to be wary of the spread of radicalism and terrorism content, and not easily fall for hoaxes and propaganda circulating on social media. In this way, there will be synergy from all parties in order to prevent radicalism and terrorism ahead of the elections so that the threat of radicalism can be prevented and the 2024 elections can run safely and peacefully.
