Japelidi and the Consul General of the US Embassy in Surabaya Urge Young Voters to Fight Disinformation in the Election Year

• Posted by: Admin
• Minggu, 12 Maret 2023
• Has been read 244 time(s)

Press conference

The Indonesian Network of Digital Literacy Activists (Japelidi) in collaboration with the Consulate General of the United States Embassy in Surabaya initiated a digital literacy program entitled "Building Youth Resilience and Participant during The Political Year". This digital literacy targets 500 young voters aged 17-20 years in 9 cities in Indonesia, namely Malang, Surabaya, Yogya, Denpasar, Makasar, Semarang, Padang, Manado and Salatiga. This program runs throughout 2023.

Denpasar became the first city to hold this program with a total of 100 young voters participating. This hybrid activity was held at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Udayana University, Thursday (9/3/2023).

In collaboration with the Communication Studies Program, Project Manager Ni Made Ras Amanda G. explained that young people are the largest number of voters, but their level of apathy towards elections is quite low. On the other hand, disinformation ahead of elections on the internet is quite high, so it is necessary to invite young voters to be critical, intelligent and resilient in fighting disinformation. "For this reason, this program carries the tagline "The Young, The Smart Chooses," he said.

The digital literacy program initiated by Japelidi and the Consulate General of the United States Embassy in Surabaya is filled with socialization and video learning media for young voters. This method is considered in accordance with the character of young people, so that young voters can easily understand and accept it.

"This program will be divided into 4 stages, namely making learning and outreach videos, workshops, then carrying out research on views and what young people have done in the election year. Finally, young voters are invited to take part in a video competition," added Ras Amanda.

The collaboration between Japelidi and the Consulate General of the United States Embassy in Surabaya in 2022 has been completed through the activity "Strengthening Digital Literacy for Young People in Eastern Indonesia" which also seeks to prepare young people to fight disinformation. Japelidi itself has been present with various activities to improve community digital literacy competence since 2017. A number of academics from 81 tertiary institutions in 31 regions of Indonesia are members of Japelidi. (*)