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View all search resultsPoliticians, officials take to Twitter in droves
From gubernatorial campaigns to political activities and fluff stories of the President or their own families, young Indonesian politicians and high-level officials now publicly share their views on a range of topics as more of them have officially Tweeter accounts
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F
rom gubernatorial campaigns to political activities and fluff stories of the President or their own families, young Indonesian politicians and high-level officials now publicly share their views on a range of topics as more of them have officially Tweeter accounts.
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) legislator Irwan Prayitno, for example, has apparently been using his Twitter account, @irwanprayitno, to campaign as candidate for West Sumatra governor.
“Will take part in West Sumatra gubernatorial candidates debate at 19:00 tonight on MetroTV. Watch it to support democracy,” he posted last week.
Anas Urbaningrum, the newly elected chairman of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, also endorsed his party’s candidate for West Sumatra governor candidate on Twitter.
“The Democratic Party’s candidate in West Sumatra is No. 4, Endang Irzal and running mate Asrul Sukur,” Anas tweeted @anasurbaningrum.
He also used the microblogging site to inform his more than 15,000 followers of his plan to announce a new executive board of the party earlier this month.
Interested in getting to know the President better? Following his closest aides, including Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal (@dinopattidjalal) and Presidential expert staff for legal affairs Denny Indrayana (@dennyindrayana) might help.
Dino often shares things the President says or does that escapes traditional media spotlight.
“President SBY and President Obama were so carried away in their talks of bilateral and international issues that they did not even touch their food during breakfast,” Dino tweeted Sunday from Toronto.
But apart from politicians and government officials, the public can also hear from human rights and anticorruption activists such as Todung Mulya Lubis (@TodungLubis) and Indonesia Corruption Watch’s Febri Diansyah (@febridiansyah), or liberal Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla (@ulil), all of whom post quite frequently.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring (@tifsembiring) is known to often defend the frequently controversial policies espoused by his institution and respond of public criticism on his statements.
Political observer-turned-politician Bima Arya Sugiarto (@BimaAryaS) said he considered Twitter a new media, apart from Facebook, through which he could inform the public of his party’s activities, respond to criticism and explain its stance regarding certain issues.
“As head of politics and communication division at PAN [National Mandate Party], it is also important for me to follow the discourse on the Internet,” Bima told The Jakarta Post.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Siti Zuhro said Twitter benefited both government officials and the public.
“The public can convey their grudges and what they feel regarding policies directly to the responsible officials, who can immediately respond to the criticism,” she said.
