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Jakarta Post

Online petitions grow, challenges remain

In recent years, we have seen a rise of digital activism in Indonesia through online petitions

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Wed, January 29, 2020

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Online petitions grow, challenges remain

I

n recent years, we have seen a rise of digital activism in Indonesia through online petitions. Some are political (such as a petition against the Criminal Code revision known as RKUHP), others are nonsensical (like the petition against a TV advertisement of K-pop girl band Blackpink).

Despite growing participation in such activism, online petitions are not always a winning move.

Data from change.org, an online petition website, show that 2019 was a year of hyped democracy and antigraft campaigns.

A petition titled #reformasidikorupsi (corrupted Reform Era) gained 2.3 million online signatures, while #semuabisakena (everyone can be a victim), a petition against the Criminal Code revision, gained more than 1 million backers.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo remained the most targeted figure in online petitions in 2019, about 6.26 million online signatures directed to him.

In second place was the West Kalimantan Police, which was criticized for the way it handled the case of Audrey, a junior high school student who sustained serious injuries and ended up in hospital after an assault by at least three girls. The petition tagged #justiceforaudrey elicited 3.79 million online signatures, crowning it the biggest petition of the year.

"Social movements linked to democracy and anticorruption have increased because of the dynamic political situation in 2019, which was marked by legislative and presidential elections," said Desmarita Murni, the partnership director for change.org Indonesia.

"Environment issues gained lots of attention, too. That was caused by vast forest fires and some agrarian conflicts in 2019," she told a discussion in Jakarta recently.

Issues related to forest fires were trending second after #reformasidikorupsi with 762,000 online signatures. Other environment-themed petitions were "Punish the shooter of Hope the Orangutan" with 1.07 million signatures and "Save Orangutan Batangtoru" with 953,662 signatures.

According to change.org, the number of Indonesian users of the platform more than doubled in 2019 to 13 million from 6 million in 2018. The platform also noted that as many as 2.5 million people reached the goals of the submitted petitions.

One of the most successful stories of last year’s “clicktivism” [a term coined to describe activism through online platforms] was #amnestiuntuknuril (Pardon for Nuril). Through the petition, signatories called on President Jokowi to grant Baiq Nuril, a teacher convicted of defaming her alleged sexual harasser, a presidential pardon.

After gaining more than 300,000 online signatures and sparking massive engagement on social media, the President granted Nuril a pardon on July 15, 2019.

Despite all the glorious results, clicktivism is not without its flaws.

"The exclusiveness of the platform can't be denied. The more controversial an issue, the more signatures it will get. Also, those who have internet access and can afford the necessary gadgets to go online — typically people from middle or upper income households — and people who can express themselves well enough — usually the more educated — will find it easier to start or join a petition. The people impacted directly, most of the time, didn't even know about the petition," film producer and activist Tunggal Pawestri, who initiated the #semuabisakena petition, told The Jakarta Post.

She added that, ideally, the people directly impacted by unfair policies should start their own petition. Tunggal also said online media could turn into a dangerous place for these people, too.

"It's dangerous for them to initiate a petition, since they might face big corporations or the government. We can't expect them to face the risks or go through legal proceedings themselves. That is why most of the petitions are initiated by NGOs or well-known public figures, who usually have a systematic plan," she added.

Dewi Sartika, the secretary-general of the Agrarian Reform Consortium, said online activism in agrarian conflicts still faced challenges.

"Agrarian issues are not mainstream issues. To start a digital mass movement, we are still struggling to make people understand the complexity of the issues. Second, we are still searching for a formula to create a down-to-earth narrative that could engage the public, because agrarian issues are not simple issues with simple explanations," she told the Post.

"Regarding the effectiveness of online platforms in agrarian issues, I think we need to synergize online petitions with political lobbying and field activism. For example, when we [activists] protested against the establishment of Kertajati International Airport, as it demolished the village of Sukamulya, the activists still went to the sites. Only relying on online petitions will change nothing," she added.

The chairman of the Natural Forest and Environment Foundation of Aceh, Irham Hudaya Yunardi, noted that there was no exact measurement for the effectiveness of clicktivism.

"There was a case where a palm and paper corporation changed its policy because of what began through an online petition. That was because the corporation was concerned about its public image. However, there were also cases in Papua in which online petitions didn't affect policymaking at all, because the regional authority simply didn't care," he said.

In response to questions about exclusiveness and effectiveness, the managers of change.org say the platform is firmly committed to providing accessibility to all.

"We brought up the stories of Agus Mandawen from Papua, who started an online petition about the delivery of free books to Papua, so that Papuan children could read more books. There was also a story about Abdul Manan of Riau province, who wrote a petition to the President asking him for [impromptu visits] to the area impacted by forest fire. These stories, however, were not gaining much [traction] because there was no media support to trend up the cases. Then we called on the media to work together with us to bring up the stories of the marginalized," Desmarita said. (trn)

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