"The Lemhannas need to work together with the media, so that people are not incited by false information or hoaxes or post truths (the era of alternative truth) circulating," said Governor of Lemhannas Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Agus Widjojo in his remarks at the Coffee Morning with Media at Lemhannas RI, Central Jakarta, Monday.
According to Widjojo, along with the rapid development of current information and communication technology and socio-political dynamics in Indonesia, not all information obtained has factual truth value.
"A lot of information is still doubtful. Hoaxes can trigger social conflicts in the community," said the retired general of the three-star general.
The phenomenon of hoaxes in recent years is a feature of the phenomenon of the "post truth" era. This "post truth" era emphasizes opinions and interpretations of an existing fact.
In the midst of this phenomenon, said Agus, the role of mass media or the press is very important, namely as the fourth pillar of democracy, in disseminating information, social control, connecting the aspirations of the people to the government, providing entertainment, and functioning as an educator to the community.
"Lemhannas as a non-ministerial government institution also has the function of educating national leadership cadres.
"Lemhannas also has a function to provide national value to various components of the nation in all walks of life," he said.
In the same place, the Young Research Expert in the Field of Ilpengtek Lemhannas RI, Sr. Comr. Martono Sindhu, explained that many countries and Indonesia lately have been entering the post truth era.
"Post truth can be understood as an alternative truth and the truth is false news or information that is intentionally produced and built by certain groups with a specific purpose," he said.
With the development of hoaxes and post truths, he continued, facts are increasingly becoming unimportant.
He said the methods of using hoaxes and post truths (alternative truths) were allegedly used by the Dutch to break up the defense of the Indonesian people, which used to be known as the politics of fighting (devide et impera).
"Hoaxes, if not handled seriously, may develop into `conflict by accident` because of their non-systematic nature. While post-truths, if left untreated, and not handled with sincerity will develop into `conflict by design?, which is difficult to overcome," Martono said.
Reporting by Syaiful Hakim
Editing by Eliswan, Rahmad Nasution
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
