The Public Is Reminded To Be Hoax Alert To Provokers In The 2024 Election

UNSPLASH/Markus Spiske ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Deputy for Domestic Political Coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Kemenko Polhukam) Heri Wiranto reminded the public regarding the potential spread of hoaxes during the upcoming 2024 election campaign period.

"The experience in the 2019 election was that the majority of hoax news in the presidential election had content that referred to acts of provocation," Heri said in a coordination meeting themed "Maintaining Political, Legal and Security Stability at the 2024 Election Stage" in Jakarta as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, November 21.

Heri revealed that hoax content in the 2019 Election consisted of 45 percent provocation, 40 percent propaganda, and the rest in the form of criticism.

"It is predicted that this election will also increase which can cause public confusion and can affect the course of elections and democratic elections, because it can potentially divide the unity and integrity of the nation," he explained.

The spread of hoaxes in the community also has the potential to create polarization in the community if it is not anticipated.

The spread of hoaxes through social media, continued Heri, can affect the perception of young voters who play an important role in the 2024 election.

"The millennial and generation Z generalization dominates the voters of the 2024 General Election, which is a total of about 56.45 percent of the total voters. Thus, voter participation from young people greatly affects the sustainability of Indonesian democracy," he said.

The large quantity of young voters, said Heri, makes the participation of millennial generation and generation Z very necessary.

"For that, we need to encourage people to be wise in using social media, spreading positive information, and inviting all elements of society not to overdo it in supporting candidate pairs," said Heri.

The implementation of these three actions can also anticipate the emergence of various turmoil that has the potential to cause polarization in the community, such as occurred in the 2019 General Election.

In addition to spreading hoaxes, Heri said that several other things also have the potential to occur during the campaign period which could disrupt the stages of the 2024 General Election.

"In this campaign process, there are many potential vulnerabilities that can interfere with the course of the democratic process, one of the issues that is quite prominent is the spread of fake news or hoaxes, hate speech, and perhaps a black campaign," said Heri.