The Presence of Obor Rakyat Only Make Presidential Election Become Even Worse

Author: Gani Permata (Student of Persada Indonesia University)

During the 2014 presidential election, the presence of the Obor Rakyat tabloid had caused a polemic due to hoaxes or hoaxes used to attack the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla couple.

In the first edition, which was published in May 2014, Obar Rakyat published a paper titled “Presidential Candidates” by presenting a caricature of Jokowi who was kissing the hands of Megawati Sukarnoputri. Shortly thereafter, the second edition appeared and re-published the article titled “1001 Jokowi Mask” containing false news about Jokowi’s family.

Considered to have passed the legal limit, the winning team of Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla finally reported the writing of the Obor Rakyat to the police.

In the final decision session, two officials of the Obor Rakyat, namely Setiyardi Budiono as editor in chief and Darmawan Sepriyossa as the legal editor were found guilty. The second was sentenced to a criminal sentence for 1 year in prison since May 2018, for violations of article 310 paragraph 2 Jo of article 55 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code concerning defamation.

Five years have passed, rumors are circulating that the People’s Torch will rise again to fill the festive campaign towards celebrating Indonesia’s 2019 democratic party.

This was confirmed by Setiyardi Budiono after receiving conditional leave from Kemenkumham the day after. The accuracy of the presidential election’s momentum was considered as a good opportunity to re-publish and restore the existence of the Obor Rakyat as during the 2014 presidential election.

This former journalist from Tempo Magazine claims that there are still many people who are waiting for the Obor Rakyat to re-emerge. So, his party made various improvements to re-strengthen the People’s Torch tabloid by establishing a legal entity and determining the office to be used as a place to produce news. Setiyardi also hopes that the Obor Rakyat tabloid can be enjoyed by the community starting next month.

Then what about community opinion ?? The rumors of the rise of Obor Rakyat presented a spicy twist from various social media. The people who were reluctant and refused the return of Obor Rakyat were bluntly disclosed because they were considered only as provocative sources that were very uneducating and damaged people’s trust in the state leader.

Hearing rumors of the return of the Obor Rakyat did not escape the monitoring of the Jokowi-Mauf National Campaign Team (TKN). Although it will not react directly, it will first monitor the contents of the tabloid, whether it will be the same as in 2014 or actually pack it with things that are suitable for public consumption.

Ahead of the 2019 Presidential Election, of course there are many parties who campaign with various means of deception, anticipation and prevention so that the black campaign mode as happened in the People’s Torch in 2014 does not need to be repeated from each individual and the authorities.

Strengthening the multimedia and cyber team formed by the Indonesian National Police must be strongly supported by all Indonesian people by introspecting all forms of provocatization and using positive campaigns. Because, if there is another black campaign with victims of Prabowo-Sandi and Jokowi-Ma’ruf, there will be a number of legal articles that have been waiting to be snared.