Rethingking Bhineka Tunggal Ika : Social Media as New Public Sphere in Understanding Diversity

The understanding of diversity in Indonesia is growing along with the growth of democracy. Back in 1961, the Indonesian government created a national motto to describe the diversity in Indonesia. It’s called Bhineka Tunggal Ika, translated as unity in diversity. The recent issue of diversity in Indonesia is LGBTQ. Starting in 2016 there are controvercies regarding LGBTQ issues led to the petition for judicial review of some articles in Indonesian Draft of the Criminal Code which regulate crime against decency, like adultery and LGBTQ. However it was rejected by the constitutional court. Based on this issue, my dissertation is divided into three parts. First, the work that discussed the issue of online media literacy in Indonesia. Second, the work that analyzed sociomaterial practices that being occurred in order to create collective understanding between different social media groups in term of LGBTQ issues. Third, the work that focused on how diversity issues are often trapped in postcolonial perspectives as a result of a western perspective. I conduct the research using literature review and online ethnography method by looking at AILA Indonesia (anti-LGBTQ) and Perkumpulan Arus Pelangi (pro-LGBTQ) Facebook groups’ posts, and also online news media, Kompas, in the period of March 2016 as the beginning of LGBTQ issues become a huge issue in Indonesia until July 2018 when LGBTQ was about to be criminalized by the Draft of the Criminal Code of Indonesia. Based on those three works, I see how the issue of education can be seen from the urgency of the need for critical online media literacy in Indonesia which is based on the motto "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" (unity in diversity).