JAKARTA (Antara) – Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MBR) Lestari Moertijat has called on Indonesia to promote digital literacy to counter hoaxes often spread through social media during the 2024 General Election (Pemilu).
„One of the challenges we face is that we see technological advancements today without proper technical literacy or the ability to understand technology,” he said.
„I see this as a reminder to all of us so that we can prepare ourselves by spreading the word on this issue to our loved ones to better understand what is happening right now,” he added.
He reported on the 148th edition of the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum on the theme „Anticipating Scams in an Election Year,” accessed Wednesday on the Rerie Lestari Moerdijat YouTube channel from Jakarta.
The circulation of hoaxes will intensify during an election year, he said. As the elections approach, the cyberspace will be filled with misinformation, which is false and manipulative and deliberately given by some parties to sway public opinion, he added.
Compared to the 2014 Bemilu, more parties have now started using hoaxes to ensure that some election participants emerge as winners, Moertijat noted.
Hence, the race for 2024 Bemilu began to look increasingly „unhealthy”.
„Compared to the 2014 (election), the war and battle for the upcoming election has become increasingly 'unhealthy’, not properly used, (and) this will lead to unpleasant events, which we may regret,” the politician pointed out. Several speakers also joined the forum on Wednesday, such as Usman Gansong, Director General of Public Information and Communication, Ministry of Communications and Information; Diti Angreni, Lecturer in Electoral Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia; and University of Erlanga political communication expert, Suko Widodo.
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