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War of hashtags: #2019StillJokowi vs #2019ChangePresident
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A vendor in Yogyakarta’s Umbulharjo district waits for customers to buy T-shirts reading “#2019GantiBojo” (Change your spouse 2019), a play on the hashtag #2019GantiPresiden (Change the President 2019), which has gone viral on social media ahead of the 2019 presidential election. The T-shirts are sold for Rp 125,000 (US$9.08). (JP/Tarko Sudiarno)
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s next year’s presidential election draws closer, volunteer supporters of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo have launched a social media campaign under the hashtag #2019TetapJokowi to counter the viral hashtag #2019GantiPresiden.
The former could be translated to English as #2019StillJokowi, while the latter would be #2019ChangePresident.
“[The hashtag] #2019TetapJokowi will counter any hoaxes and intimidation [against Jokowi] in social media,” Immanuel Ebenezer, who heads volunteer group Jokowi Mania (Jo-Man), declared on Saturday, as reported by tempo.co.
Immanuel said #2019GantiPresiden was viral in social media, but #2019TetapJokowi would be “massive in the real world”. Jo-Man plans to mobilize volunteers to carry out offline campaigns in their respective neighborhoods.
“We’re ready to deploy thousands of volunteers to introduce the campaign to the people,” he added.
Political expert and Lingkar Madani director Ray Rangkuti urged the campaigners to ensure the hashtags were more than just brands. Both the #2019TetapJokowi and the #2019GantiPresiden campaign should offer substantial information for the upcoming presidential election in 2019.
“Whoever uses the hashtags should emphasize the rationale behind it. Why do we need to replace Jokowi, or why do we still need Jokowi as president?” he told tempo.co. (vla)
