UGM’s Pojok Bulaksumur is back amid the fasting month. Held just before breaking the fast, this time Pojok Bulaksumur addresses the theme of Reflections on the 2024 Elections, featuring three speakers: Dr. Rijadh Djatu Winardi from the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Arga Pribadi Imawan from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol), and Dr. Hendry Julian Noor from the Faculty of Law (FH).
Arga Pribadi Imawan responded to the 2024 elections by stating that the increasing role of social media in future political campaigns should be more closely and strictly regulated by the election organizers.
He mentioned that Law Number 7 of 2017 regarding Elections is considered lacking and has not specifically regulated political campaign content on social media. Political content circulating on social media often tends to be damaging.
“For instance, hoaxes, misinformation, and posts that discredit other candidates are prone to creating horizontal conflicts in society,” he said at the UGM Central Building on Friday (Mar. 22).
According to him, it is only natural that phenomena like this can be controlled by the KPU, Bawaslu, and DKPP as election stakeholders through regulation. He sees this phenomenon as a gap that election organizers can take advantage of to regulate.
“Regulation regarding hashtags, even if it’s highly technical in nature, must be done,” he said.
Imawan believes that with the high number of social media users in Indonesia, even ranking in the top five globally for Instagram and Twitter users, social media will become an increasingly effective space for campaigns in future elections.
Dr. Rijadh Djatu Winardi highlighted the transparency regarding campaign funding through social media and hopes for further regulation on this matter.
As a lecturer at FEB UGM specializing in forensic accounting, he stated that the current campaign fund reporting format is not detailed enough, only containing aggregate income and expenses.
“This certainly makes it difficult for the public to scrutinize specific expenditures, including funds spent on social media campaigns,” Dr. Winardi said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Hendry Julian Noor mentioned that the quality of the 2024 elections, viewed from a legal perspective, actually sees more mistakes happening during the pre-election period. These early mistakes have a cascading effect on the implementation process.
“Awareness of ethics and conflicts of interest is considered a major issue often overlooked. This is feared to become a pattern that could occur in the future,” Dr. Noor revealed.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Photographer: Firsto