Controversial Behavior of Political Elites in Indonesia During the Covid-19

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, which has accounted for remarkable casualties in Indonesia, did not seem to make political elites more empathetic. The study aims to reveal how the mythology of the political elites behind the criticism of Instagram accounts @GejayanMemanggil. To fulfill this goal, we employed Roland Barthes' semiotic analysis of nine contents of @GejayanMemanggil. This study has revealed five major results. First, the mythology of the political elite is represented as the 'ancilus' of oligarchic interests during the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, political elites and oligarchs have superior positions to control society and health workers. Third, the political elites' policies focus more on economic recovery than the people’s safety. Fourth, @GejayanMemanggil Instagram account narrates the mythology of political elites who have no sensitivity towards people’s hardship because they exploit their positions and facilities as public officials. Finally, political elites show that they do not empathize with the suffering of the people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Determinisme Teknologi dan Industri Buzzer: Pembusukan Komunikasi Politik di Media Sosial

“…Fakta memburuknya ruang publik tidak bisa dipungkiri, perdebatan politik dengan penuh sentimen, narasi kebencian, fitnah, hoaks, serangan personal, dan pembunuhan karakter (Juditha, Perlunya konsepsi baru mengenai komunikasi politik ini menandakan perlunya re-order atau penataan ulang dari praktik komunikasi politik itu sendiri. Komunikasi politik dengan narasi kebencian yang menimbulkan polarisasi di masyarakat (Afrimadona, 2021;Sujoko, Khotimah, et al, 2022) tidak mungkin untuk dipertahankan, bila menginginkan bangsa Indonesia tumbuh sebagai bangsa yang beradab. Padahal bangsa Indonesia inheren memiliki nilai kultur harmonisasi dalam praktik politik -di mana hal ini dapat dilacak melalui tulisan para pujangga terdahulu di Jawa (Sujoko, 2021).…”