College Student Social Media History Probed to Prevent Radicalism

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Research, Technology, and Higher Education Minister Mohamad Nasir announced that his ministry has worked with the Communication and Informatics Ministry to track the social media digital footprints of university students to prevent any form of radicalism.

“It’s a partnership. [What we are doing is] social media profiling,” said Nasir at the Bidakara Hotel in Jakarta today.

Nasir argued that social media has unintentionally developed into one of many means for spreading radicalism that must be monitored. This is the reason Nasir requested that campus faculty members should conduct a digital background check on their students.

Furthermore, he plans to gather every nation-wide university rectors to discuss problems regarding radicalism in campus environment on June 25th.

As quoted from the May 28th Tempo Magazine edition entitled “Radicals in the making”, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) enunciated that every universities in Java and Sulawesi has been exposed to religious-based radicalism but in varying degrees.

BNPT’s finding corresponds with the poll conducted by the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) that was announced on April. BIN’s poll results show that 39 percent of college students from 20 universities in 15 provinces are against democracy and disagrees with Pancasila being the foundation of the country.

FRISKI RIANA