This article was written in collaboration with the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) as part of EngageMedia’s Youth Communications and Advocacy and Greater Internet Freedom projects.
Read this article in Bahasa Indonesia
On February 14, 2024, the Indonesian general elections took place, marked by a high voter turnout. The country has a history of using social media to suppress certain “narratives,” and the elections were marred by allegations of interference by the incumbent president, using the courts to bend candidate requirements, concerns for civil liberties, and cornering opponents and silencing critics.
In Indonesia, young voters were instrumental in electing Prabowo Subianto, a former general under former president Suharto’s authoritarian regime, who ran with Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the mayor of Surakarta and son of the incumbent president. They received the most support from Gen Z and millennials.
One notable aspect of this election was the use of generative AI in the campaigns. For example, the AI-generated cartoon avatar for Prabowo Subianto, created using the image-generating tool Midjourney, was popular among the new generation of voters. While the 72-year-old Minister of Defense has previously been accused of human rights violations against political activists in the East Timor – now Timor Leste – and the Papua region in the late 1990s, this new avatar no longer portrays him as a fiery nationalist. Instead, he is widely referred to by the Indonesian slang “gemoy,” meaning cute and cuddly.
We interviewed two young activists from Indonesia, Samuel Moifilit and Afifah Fitriyani, to understand their experiences and perceptions of the elections. We also interviewed members of the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) for their reaction to the elections: John Reiner Antiquerra, Senior Program Officer for Outreach and Communication; Tharindu Damith Abeyrathna, Senior Program Officer for Campaign and Advocacy; and Brizza Rosales, Executive Director.
ANFREL has released a report on their observation of the 2024 Indonesian elections titled “Beyond Power: Upholding the Rule of Law amid Democratic Adversities“. The report is available for download in both English and Bahasa Indonesia.
Youth and the elections
Indonesia boasts over 204 million registered voters (75% of the total population), with over 56% being young voters who played a crucial role in deciding the election outcome. According to the 2020 national census, around 28% of the Indonesian population belongs to Generation Z, while millennials make up around 26%.
Indonesia has an internet penetration rate of over 77%, and most mobile phone subscribers spend most of their time online, according to 2023 statistics. Candidates increasingly courted young voters during their campaigns using platforms such as X, Facebook, and TikTok. The engagement with young voters through technology and social media significantly influenced public discourse.
Commenting on youth participation in Indonesia, Brizza from ANFREL noted the nuanced ways in which young people can get politically involved.
“Across Asia, the current trend is organic youth political participation. However, there are nuances in the kinds of political engagement among youth. You’ll find youths with their own political perceptions and positions. Some engage actively in university politics or organize for political parties, while others remain neutral or prefer to observe rather than participate actively.”
“Nonetheless, many support political causes in various ways. Therefore, it’s important not to generalize youth political participation without considering these nuances,” Brizza added.
Accessibility issues
Indonesia is a large country with over 17,000 islands and numerous indigenous ethnicities. While there were large voter turnouts in major cities, experiences in some of the remote areas were different.
According to John, “ANFREL wasn’t able to field an observer in Papua to gain first-hand experience.” Historically, it is difficult to gain direct insights from the country’s easternmost region. Foreign journalists and observers interested in reporting on the provinces must navigate strict government screening procedures, and local journalists and activists are vulnerable to attacks and arrests.
A voter observing the sample ballots on display in one of the Polling Stations at Jakarta, Indonesia. (Source: Dwinda Nur Oceani.)
Samuel lives in Sorong in the least populous province of Indonesia, West Papua. There is a strong uprising movement in this region and the constant presence of police and the military, which the government justifies as an attempt to maintain peace and order. The mountainous province with spotty mobile coverage often sees internet shutdowns. Making matters worse, the pro-independence United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) had announced a boycott of the Indonesian elections in January this year, resulting in a voter turnout that was comparatively lower than the other provinces.
Samuel talked about the internet access issues in Papua:
“In the village, young people have difficulty accessing information despite the existence of the Baktiaksi program [a government initiative to provide internet access using fiber optics in rural and border areas of Indonesia]. The Baktiaksi infrastructure network has been built, but it still cannot accommodate the community’s needs due to limited network bandwidth (sometimes only 1 Mbps),” he said.
“For example, in one village with internet access, only 20 smartphones can use WhatsApp simultaneously, and only one smartphone can access YouTube. Even performing a Google search is challenging. Many young people are forced to stay up late to get information because the network speed usually improves between midnight and dawn,” he added.
Read More: Digital Rights Violations in Papua
Aside from internet access issues, Samuel also witnessed the presence of “dawn attacks” (Serangan Fajar, a local term for voter buying practices nicknamed for its pattern of handing out bribes in the early morning), similar to the 2019 elections. “In 2024, there were also ‘dawn attacks,’ plus abuse of authority. In some areas, military personnel directed the public to vote for one of the candidates,” he said.
Meanwhile, those who wanted to vote, especially in urban areas, faced obstacles; Sam recounted some of his friends’ experiences when they tried to vote. “Young people who didn’t have an E-KTP (Indonesian National Digital ID cards) for various reasons ended up trying to come to the polling stations using the ID number provided on their Family Card. However, many of these people were rejected by officers at the polling stations and were unable to vote.“
The E-KTP has been used as the primary identification tool for Indonesians, and is required to access public intercity transportation, banking, universal healthcare claim system, and private services. However, some communities have been barred from registering to the system due to the lack of accommodation of their identity; transgender and non-binary individuals for example cannot have their preferred gender be written into the card without a court decision, which is costly. Additionally, minority faiths and indigenous tribes often do not have E-KTP due to accessibility issues and lack of state recognition of their religion, which is a required column in the card. During the elections, E-KTP was used as the primary identification method for voters, although the Indonesian Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that they allowed alternative identification such as driving licenses for the authentication process at the polling booth.
Afifah in Bogor, a city neighbouring the country’s current capital Jakarta, had a different experience.
“Compared to the 2019 election, more people participated both in the campaign process and at the polls in the 2024 election. Many of them were first-time voters, and the overall sentiment was one of excitement at being able to exercise their democratic right,” Afifah said.
“However, some of my friends had their identity stolen and used by others for voting. They arrived at their voting station only to discover that their identity had already been used to cast a vote, despite them not having voted yet.”
According to a report, an alleged leak hit the General Elections Commission (KPU) on November 30, 2023, raising concerns about the vulnerability of the poll body’s digital security system. With gubernatorial elections set to be held later this year, analysts say this can potentially compromise the upcoming elections’ integrity.
A new style of online campaign emerges
During the 2024 general elections, social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok and WhatsApp became intense and complex political battlegrounds. These platforms did increase young voter participation and engagement. However, they also facilitated the spread of false information and hoaxes, potentially undermining the integrity of the elections.
Afifah found the 2024 general election much more “fun” and “lively” due to the increased involvement of youth, especially first-time voters, using social media to engage with election and governance issues. According to her, “short-form content videos became the most used method for campaigns and information dissemination, especially those posted on TikTok.”
She noted the use of advanced filters, videos, and sounds in social media campaigns made these posts trend and go viral. One candidate’s campaign heavily featured “fun” activities such as dancing (“Joget”) and cultivated a fresh image for the candidate (“Gemoy”).
Other candidates created hybrid discussion platforms hosted on YouTube to introduce their strategies and goals should they be elected. Political parties also used social media to further boost their images. Bolstered by Millenials and Gen Z, these phenomena reflect the younger generation’s desire to participate in a political discourse that is more interactive, substantial, and inclusive.
However, not all are hooked; Afifah noticed that many people, including her friends, had chosen candidates based on the “branding” and “images” they built online rather than evaluating their actual track records. She also saw many undecided young people refraining from participating in these discourse events. “They often feel excluded,” she said. “Some of my friends expressed that those kinds of events are for ‘smart people only’.”
Samuel also confirmed the role of social media in Papua during the elections:
“Social media is the main medium in forming public opinion, both positive and negative. Many determined their opinions and choices based on posts on social media (campaigns).”
“Some were also active in campaigning. For example, several Papuan musicians and artists advocated for peaceful, free, and fair elections using rap and hip-hop. Others designed flyers promoting elections free of corruption (paid votes).” Samuel added.
Youth also actively participated in the civic education efforts. Several youth organizations initiated the “Bijak Memilih” movement, which includes educational sites and events to familiarize young voters with candidate and party track records.
Dirty Vote, Censorship, and shadow banning
Afifah did not observe any shutdown in the Western Java region. However, Samuel thinks he experienced a network disruption on February 12 – just two days before the election. “I was monitoring the KPU.id website, and when trying to access it, the front page did not appear, and the option to check our polling stations was inaccessible.” The website was also down nationwide during election day allegedly due to a D-DoS attack.
Afifah mentioned that the controversial documentary Dirty Vote – a documentary directed by journalist, filmmaker and activist Dandhy Laksono positing allegations of voter buying practices and systemic election fraud in the 2024 election – was allegedly shadow-banned on YouTube. When it was released on February 13, one day before the election, the documentary could not be searched. “To find it, we had to access it via a shareable link,” she said.
This also extended to political posts on other platforms. “A lot of political posts on Instagram were shadow-banned as well. I see their views significantly decrease when compared to other posts,” Afifah said. Shadow-ban refers to engagement intervention practices in social media implemented by the platform to suppress the reach of certain content. In Indonesia, many activists alleged that the practice heavily targets content criticizing the government. Previously, a similar critical documentary Sexy Killer – which exposed military relations to coal mine establishments in Indonesia – had also been difficult to find on YouTube.
An example of hidden comments under a political post. The hashtag says “Papua is not an empty land” and the label states “hidden by Instagram”. (Source: Samuel Moifilit)
Reflecting on his experience in trying to organize a watch session of the controversial movie in his town, Samuel said:
“After the release of Dirty Vote, direct internet access became very difficult. Opening YouTube took a very long time and we couldn’t search for or play the film on YouTube. We finally managed to watch it using a private drive that had the film.”
YouTube denied the shadow-ban allegation, citing that their system was working normally on the day of the movie release.
“When Dirty Vote was broadcasted, we (the student press and PapuanVoices) decided to organize a discussion. Suddenly, the authorities contacted several of our friends to inquire about the activities we had planned and even asked for the organizer’s contact information,” Samuel said.
The planned public screening of Dirty Vote in Jakarta also hit a snag when the venue management canceled the event, citing a “violation of campaign recess rule” despite the rule not applying to events organized by civic movements. Undeterred, a few netizens organized interactive public screenings through their personal YouTube accounts, where viewers could simultaneously watch and comment during the screening.
Finding the truth, filling the blanks: a battle against hoax and lack of access to information
In Papua region, it was hard for locals to learn about the candidates or the campaign issues because of slow internet or lack of internet access.
Samuel said, “Election-related information is easier to obtain in urban areas, where more people have access and can follow digital trends, allowing them to parse through information. In contrast, trusted websites and outreach regarding election-related information, both official and independent, are rarely promoted in villages. So many people in these areas do not know where to find relevant and actual news.“
He added, “It is very difficult for information from Papua to reach users outside of the region, especially regarding events that occurred before and after the election. The news often remains confined within the Papua area.” The government has had a history of blocking news sites that report Papuan issues, as well as running some military-affiliated news websites that specifically cover the region.
Aside from difficulty in accessing information, another challenge was distinguishing between credible news and disinformation. Afiffah noticed a lot of influence activities on social media: “On Twitter, I noticed that bots and buzzers frequently spam trending topics with irrelevant tweets, perhaps to bury news or critical information.”
On TikTok, the term “anak abah” (which means “father’s child” in Indonesian and refers to how Anies Baswedan supporters call the candidate “Abah” or father) is often used as an insult against those criticizing the current government and its policies. Many of those targeted are content creators, and the criticism they receive often contain repetitive arguments and insults, frequently laced with anti-intellectualism.
Academia was also targeted. Afifah said: “Lecturers involved in the creation of the Dirty Vote movie were heavily targeted with defamatory disinformation.” TikTok’s poor content moderation mechanism also contributed to the spread of ethno-religious sentiment, particularly against Rohingya refugees.
Contributing to the challenge of making informed voting decisions was the lack of transparency regarding candidates’ background and track records. Tharindu from ANFREL noted: “In Indonesia, most asset declarations of candidates are not being published online,” even after they have been elected back in February. In early 2023, several public officials and politicians were convicted of corruption charges, which was initially discovered by independent social media users after studying their publicly accessible annual wealth and asset reports. The current law on assets declaration has been criticized as ‘toothless’ for its lack of criminal consequences against public officials who refuse to publicize their wealth or who have irregular amounts of assets.
The Good, The Bad, the Artificial Intelligence
During the elections, generative AI content was used in the campaigns by many parties and there were a variety of attitudes towards its use. These campaigns used platforms like Midjourney or OpenAI and there are calls for platform accountability to prevent misuse of AI.
In January 2024, the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), along with 18 participating political parties, the campaign teams of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, and the Coalition of Peace, declared a Joint Commitment to the Code of Ethics for Election Campaigning on Social Media for the 2024 Indonesian Elections.
For Afifah, the Gen X and boomer generations are “often amazed by the technological development that AI exhibits” so many consider its usage “in a positive light as a result.”
In younger generations, however, the use of AI, particularly generative AI, is seen in a negative light due to its direct implication to the livelihood of creative workers. There is also a perception that if the campaign uses AI, it “doesn’t have enough budget” to pay actual people, and is therefore “cheap”. According to IDNTimes research on Indonesian Gen Z trends and behaviours, Gen Z tends to be less impressed with new technological development due to their nativity to the digital world, which allows them to be attuned to updates. Indonesian Gen Z is also most concerned with socio-economic inequality, including equal opportunity, right to work, and fair wages across professions, including those working in less formal sectors such as creative workers.
Samuel commented that it was hard for many to spot generative AI content: “The knowledge of AI is not evenly distributed; only friends who are interested in it understand the difference between ordinary content and Generative AI content.”
Meanwhile, John from ANFREL said generative AI has the potential to be both beneficial and harmful.
“I am cautious about portraying the use of generative AI as inherently dangerous. It’s not. I believe it is not bad, but you have to put several guardrails in order to prevent the use of technology from being abused and misused. Particularly in elections, where voters choose candidates based on their perceived identities, unregulated use of technology could distort the democratic process. Voters might unwittingly support an AI-created persona that does not accurately represent the candidate they are voting for,” John said.
“Generative AI has the potential for misuse and abuse. We need to proceed with caution and there needs to be discussions on how it could be used (properly) in elections,” he added.
“Given everything, are you afraid of speaking out?”
We asked this question as a final reflection for the interviewees, after they’ve chronicled their experiences of this year’s election.
Samuel is passionate about contributing to political education with his peers in PapuanVoices. “For me, this is part of my success in being able to influence people about the facts of applying the law,” he said. “We are able to engage friends in authority to think critically regarding their position of power, not just carry out orders.”
Afifah expressed that she felt some fear in sharing content critical of the government, but she remains undeterred and has found ways to share information, her style. “I often repost stories or tweets that I agree with to signal my support.” She acknowledged that while there is increased enthusiasm, many are participating on the surface level, and that “our homework is on how to create substantial political education that can penetrate the general public, so they are well-informed in forming their opinions.”
