Supporters Of Eri Cahyadi-Machfud Arifin Mutually Through Memes After The Surabaya Election Debate

Candidates for mayor-vice mayor of Surabaya Machfud Arifin-Mujiaman during the Surabaya Pilkada debate, Wednesday, November 4 (screenshot of KPU Surabaya Youtube)

SURABAYA - The supporters of the candidate pair Eri Cahyadi-Armudji and Machfud Arifin-Mujiaman quipped each other through memes on social media.

The two supporters previously argued in the comments column of the Surabaya KPU Youtube account. Now the sarcastic memes are thrown into the timeline.

For example a meme from the candidate pair number two Machfud Arifin-Mujiaman with a photo of the candidate pair Eri-Armudji during the initial debate. In the photo, it was stated that Eri was talking at length with the words "blah ... blah..bla ..". Meanwhile, his partner, Armudji, was impressed that he did not understand what Eri was talking about with the words "I don't understand anything, wes keep quiet, it's safer boss ..".

The meme was also distributed by the Media and Communication Director of the Winning Team for Machfud Arifin-Mujiaman candidate pair, Imam Syafi'i. According to Imam, memes are a form of public expression.

"That's okay, because memes are a form of expression. Let the public do whatever it takes. Of course those who watch live broadcasts can judge. Which is meme, which is caricature, which is graphic. Which fits the conditions last night. I think the public understands it, and funny memes are fine, it's entertaining, so it's not tense, "said Imam, confirmed, Thursday, November 5.

Imam does not question if the meme is widely circulated in the community. As long as the meme does not cause slander, especially to the point of degrading someone's dignity.

"It is permissible for an orderly person not to slander each other, like that, drop attacking dignity. We think that society is learning more and more, this is the era of social media, yes, it is stronger than the media," he said.

The same thing was done by supporters of Eri Cahyadi-Armudji. On social media, Eri's supporters also posted status memes satire.

"Machfud Arifin was asked by IPM, no answer! Do you understand?" so the memes circulating.

Responding to this, Adi Sutarwijono, Chairman of the PDI-P DPC Surabaya City, said the memes were part of the excitement of the democratic party. He didn't mind it as long as he didn't demonize each other.

"I consider it part of the excitement of the democratic party, as long as it does not demonize or damage each other. If you are still sarcastic, that's normal. Candidates for mayor must be trained in patience to deal with problems, so as not to have thin ears," said Awi, his nickname.