The General Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) drew attention to the various advantages in the event of no amendments being made to the General Election Law..

Bawaslu’s Coordinator Division of the Legal, Public Relations, Data, and Information, Fritz Edward Siregar, delivered the statement.

“If there is no revision, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and Bawaslu can hold the elections better and use the 2020 regional head election as the benchmark,” Siregar noted during an exclusive interview with Antara here on Monday.

Election organizers can view the events of the 2020 regional head election as a benchmark and guideline on which aspects should be of concern to the agency, he pointed out.

Siregar highlighted that the concerns can be in the form of hate speech, hoax content, and disinformation that negatively impact the democratic party.

Several content on elections spread across social media platforms not only harm candidates but also trigger polarization that threatens the integrity of Indonesia as a nation, he expounded.

Moreover, he believes that it was not just about the spread of fake news but interactions related to elections among social media users that could trigger cyber violence.

Thus, Siregar believes that Bawaslu’s concern for the 2024 general elections is the risk of hate content, hoaxes, and disinformation on social media.

“The more sophisticated the technology is, the greater the possibility of violence occurring. We need new strategies to deal with that,” he affirmed.

In line with Siregar’s views, the agency’s Dispute Resolution Division Coordinator, Rahmat Bagja, called on Bawaslu to prepare itself to tackle hoax content that poses a threat to the smooth implementation of the 2024 General Election.

“We have to think of how to deal with hoaxes, the types of methods, and also the creation of a legal structure,” Bagja expounded.

Source: Antara News