Public Negative Sentiment Regarding Erina Gudono Entering The Sleman Pilkada Exchange

Kaesang Pangarep's wife, Erina Gudono, is said to be on the Sleman regent candidate exchange. (Instagram/@erinasugono)

JAKARTA Erina Sofia Gudono or better known as Erina Gudono is currently on the rise in the mass media and social media. Because of this, President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) son-in-law is said to be participating in the contestation for the election of the Sleman regent candidate, Yogyakarta Special Region.

The issue was confirmed by the chairman of the Gerindra Sleman Party DPC, HR Sukaptana, several days ago. Said Sukaptana, the discourse of carrying the wife of PSI General Chair Kaesang Pangarep as a candidate for Sleman Regent is an internal proposal for Gerindra. The consideration is that Gerindra needs an energetic young cadre.

"Look, Mas, the story is that there are discourses, especially internal parties that were submitted and then looked at others, whether later the survey will enter or not. (Erina?) Yes, come in," said Sukaptana, Saturday (9/3/2024).

"From us considering later who knows the public oh like this, maybe young, energetic cadres will emerge," he said.

Seeing that Erina Gudono's name was widely mentioned, Netray tried to catch news about her, especially regarding her candidacy in the online mass media. The word "keyerina gundono" on March 8-14, 2024 became a reference and Netray found 150 news discussing the former Yogyakarta Princess.

The discussion about Erina is mostly included in political topics, which is 126 articles. In this topic, Erina's name is most widely mentioned with Joko widodo in 50 articles, "said the Netray report.

Erina's status as Jokowi's son-in-law is often the title and content of mass media news. With Erina's name sticking out in political contestation, dynastic political topics are increasingly associated with Jokowi's family.

Since Erina's name emerged and was said to be running in the selection of the Sleman regent, a number of observers spoke up. Responding to the news, Political Observer of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Firman Noor assessed that Erina's election was only based on popularity. He also emphasized that the realization of quality democracy is when the party carries a name that has ethical appropriateness and capability, not just popularity.

Popularity is only one of the elements that must be considered. Another thing is ethical appropriateness and capability," said Firman, quoting Kompas.

A similar view was expressed by the Director of the Political Studies Institute Nusakom Pratama, Ari Junaedi. He admitted that he was surprised that the Gerindra Party dared to nominate Erina, as if the party led by Prabowo Subianto did not have qualified levels so he had to rely on figures who were considered well-selling. According to Ari, Erina's candidacy can be considered a black sheet in democracy if it really happens.

Following the swift negative comments regarding allegations of dynastic political abuse, the Gerindra Party finally opened its voice through the Deputy Chairperson of the DPD Cadreization and Membership Organization Gerindra Party DPD DIY. Gerindra also emphasized that they had never made a direct approach to Erina.

The name Kaesang Pangarep also appeared with Erina in 50 articles. Even so, Erina Serig was mentioned in the article as Kaesang's wife, giving more positive sentiment than when reported with Jokowi.

Netray also tried to capture the response of netizens X to the issue of Erina Gudono's candidacy. However, this topic does not seem to be as busy as the news in the mass media. With the same keywords and monitoring period, 912 uploads from 555 accounts were found discussing this topic. Netizens also did not comment much on the issue, most of the uploads were actually filled with news accounts.

It can be seen on the ranks of the most popular accounts that news accounts such as CNN Indonesia, Kompas, and Tempo are included in the ranks of accounts that have received reactions from netizens in the number of hundreds.

Meanwhile, only a handful of netizens gave Erina a negative opinion, as written by the @denismalhotra account. He said that it was not only Erina who did not deserve to be a regent candidate, but a Jokowi family. Meanwhile, the @Fido_id_ account focuses more on the party that raises this issue will actually damage Indonesia's democracy.