TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Ahok, Sandiaga’s teams claim to be victims of ‘cyberwar’
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Developers participate in the Code for Vote hackathon organized by the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) prior to the 2014 general elections. Over 70 million Indonesians use the internet and approximately 90 percent of them have a Facebook account. (Andrew Thornley/ Courtesy of asiafoundation.org)
T
he campaign teams of both Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and Gerindra Party gubernatorial candidate Sandiaga Uno claim that they have identified certain online commentators who frequently make offensive comments about their respective candidates.
However, they denied they had hired people to comment positively on their candidates and negatively on their rivals on social media platforms or online news portals.
Wibi Andrino, the social media and public opinion coordinator of Ahok’s campaign team, said his team had a media monitoring section. “We have noted certain buzzers, who frequently write negative statements about Ahok,” Wibi told The Jakarta Post.
Wibi said they did not hire commentators to discredit Ahok’s political rivals, but that the team focused on disseminating Ahok’s programs among the public.
Meanwhile, Anthony Leong, coordinator of Sandi Uno Digital Volunteer (SOLDIER), Sandiaga’s volunteer team, also denied that his team used buzzers to make offensive comments against political rivals.
The team will focus on absorbing public aspirations and set aside cyberbullying that came about after a photo went viral in which Sandiaga was reportedly not wearing underwear under his trousers. The SOLDIER group assumed that some bad comments may have come from buzzers who supported Ahok in the election.
“To bully another candidate is not our style. We will run a smart campaign that will not degrade other candidates,” Anthony said. (bbn)
