Indonesia’s rise in digital democracy and youth’s political participation

ABSTRACT

The platform of digital media has particularly reshaped the political structure of Indonesia. The public is using social media applications for political participation and an expression of their political opinions. This survey was conducted in Indonesia to examine the impact of digital media among youngsters and their political engagement through digital platforms. The study was influenced by the phenomenon of massive student participation, which occurred in August 2019, in Indonesia as a reaction to a new corruption (KPK) law. The study opted for the public sphere theory of Jürgen Habermas; ‘The Public Sphere’. This correlates to the study objective whereby youth participate in political matters to learn and to discuss their common beliefs in the public spheres. The study design is quantitative and more than four hundred respondents were selected during the protests through random sampling techniques. The conclusion of the study demonstrates that youth participate in multiple activities, such as protests for new laws, which indeed strengthen democracy and contribute to the political structure of Indonesia. Therefore, youth participation through social media platforms shows their political participation in Indonesia. The study also suggests a few recommendations for youth to show their participation through online spheres.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital democracy
• information technology
• politics
• Indonesia
• participation
• protests
• youths

Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge all our respondents who were voluntarily involved in this study.

Disclosure statement

We declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this study.

Notes

1. In 2019, the Jokowi Government altered policy for the corruption law, facing huge criticism from the public.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Muhammad Saud

Dr. Muhammad Saud is a young political researcher based in Southeast Asia. He is the author of studies on youth and political participation. He lectures in Sociology, worked in the development sector (NGOs) and has contributed to a series of youth development projects and particularly on Health and Education, at the grassroots level. He is working with think tanks to promote youth as the main indicator for social change in the democratic society. He started his career from the spirit of volunteerism and rewarded the Best Volunteer Award from UNESCO partners in Asia. He is currently engaged in funded projects with Indonesian and Malaysian Universities on the Democratic Practice and Youth political participation. He is also associated with national and international forums.

Hendro Margono

Dr. Hendro Margono is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Information and Library Science, Faculty of Political and Social Science, Airlangga University, Surabaya-Indonesia. He did a doctoral degree from Victoria University, Australia. His research interest includes social computing, data mining, data science, big data, library system information and applied information technology for the library. He has published reputable research papers in national, international journals, and conference proceedings.