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What TikTokers teach us about the pressing need for inclusive digital policy
The class consciousness during the heyday of CFW often led to a false assumption that the more privileged people are, the less vulnerable they are in pursuing their cultural tastes and navigating digital life.
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Street fashion: Participants strut on the runway during the Citayam Fashion Week outside Dukuh Atas commuter train station in Central Jakarta on July 22, 2022. (Antara/Mentari Dwi Gayati)
T
ikTok has been different from other social media platforms due to its ability to convey raw materials to its users. In contrast to heavily filtered images on Instagram, TikTok provides ample opportunity for netizens to present themselves according to their tastes and desires. In this regard, TikTok has imminent potential to become an inclusive digital platform.
Yet, in Indonesia, we have witnessed various events that also show the pitfalls of TikTok in becoming an inclusive platform. These indicate that citizens and the government must work hand-in-hand to create a safe space for all.
Interestingly, while citizens have cultivated creative potential in digital life, the government tends to behave in the opposite way. There has been a constant cherry-picking mechanism of the stability-oriented and normative authorities facing cultural clashes and technological disruptions in the digital age.
The emergence of Citayam Fashion Week (CFW) just outside Dukuh Atas commuter-train station, which reached its heyday in mid-July, paints the phenomenon. The cultural movement emerged as an artistic expression of marginalized youth from suburban Jakarta who commute to the elite Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD) to seek affordable entertainment and accessible public space. During its golden period, the acronym teasingly changed to stand for Sudirman Citayam Bojonggede Depok, the marginal areas of Greater Jakarta.
During the 77th anniversary of Indonesian independence, Farel Prayoga, the sixth-grade singer who also gained popularity on TikTok, performed at the Merdeka Palace in Central Jakarta. He lives in Banyuwangi, East Java -- in the easternmost part of Java. Representing the same inclusive spirit of CFW, Farel brought the critical message of ojo dibanding-bandingke, Javanese for “stop comparing yourself”, right in the era of individualism and mental-health crisis.
Now, CFW is almost out of sight, and the life of white-collar workers brings the SCBD back to its elitist nature. At the same time, Farel was also back to school in his hometown with his personally booked jet flight from his show in Batulicin, South Kalimantan.
Then, what is left in our collective memory?
