The Symbolic Construction of Religious Issues in the 2017 Campaign

and Propaganda in Jakarta Election

Gun Gun Heryanto

, Dedi Fahrudin

and Effy Zalfiani Rusfian

Faculty of Da’wa and Communication,State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta, Indonesia

Faculty of Administration,University of Indonesia, Indonesia

Keywords: Issues of Religion, Campaign, Propaganda, Local Elections in Jakarta

Abstract: This research is based on the rampant use of religious issues in campaign and propaganda in elections

Jakarta-2017 both in the second round. Various events surfaced and became news in many mass media as

well as conversations in various types of media such as the above line media, below line media, and new

media. There are three arguments for why this study is important. First, data in the elections of Jakarta

shows the number of citizens who make religion as the preference. Second, the symbolic construction of

religious issues in media channels because the media is still used as a reference. Third, religious issues are

massive and excessive produced and distributed to the citizens of Jakarta during election contest elections,

not only become a local issue but also a national issue even some of them become a global issue. So this

needs to be scientifically researched. There are three problem formulations in this research. How is the

symbolic construction of religious issues in campaign and propaganda in the second round election of

Jakarta 2017? What campaign strategies and propaganda techniques are used in religious issues in the

second round of elections in Jakarta 2017? What channels are used in the campaign and propaganda of

religious issues in the second round election of Jakarta 2017? The theory used in this research is the theory

of the social construction of reality, as well as a number of important concepts related to the campaign and

propaganda. The results of this study show that all propaganda techniques are used. These techniques are

name calling, glittering generalities, testimonials, bandwagon, plain folks, card stacking. The campaign

strategy used is political marketing through branding, segmenting and positioning by utilizing religious

issues to persuade, especially sociological voters. Channels used are top-line media such as mass media and

lower-line media such as banners, billboards, banners etc.

1 INTRODUCTION

The Jakarta elections have ended with the victory of

the pair Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno over the

incumbent pair Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and Djarot

Saiful Hidayat with a significant difference. Based

on the real count data of the General Election

Commission (KPU), which uses the Vote Counting

Information System (Situng), the Anies-Sandi pair

received 57.95 percent of the votes and the Ahok-

Djarot pair gained 42.05 percent. The results of the

vote in the second round were shocking because the

average survey agency predicts the tightness of the

votes that will be contested by the two couples who

fought in this second round. This is also seen from

the tightness of the differences between the two

pairs in the first round, namely Ahok-Djarot 42.9

percent and Anies-Sandi 39.9 percent.

One that drew the attention of researchers in the case

of persuasion communication in Jakarta Election

was the use of a number of religious issues in

campaign strategies and candidate propaganda in

both the first and second rounds. This research

attempts to observe, explain, map the symbolic

construction of religious issues in campaigns and

candidate propaganda in the 2017 elections in the

second round.

1.1 Social Construction Theory

The social construction of reality was introduced

by Peter L Berger and Thomas Luckmann through

his book The Social Construction of Reality, a

Treatise in the Sociological of Knowledge (1966).

They describe the social process through its actions

and interactions, in which the individual creates

Heryanto, G., Fahrudin, D. and Rusﬁan, E.

The Symbolic Construction of Religious Issues in the 2017 Campaign and Propaganda in Jakarta Election.

DOI: 10.5220/0009929414511457

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 1451-1457

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

1451

continuously a shared reality and shared subjectively

(Mujani, 1995).

On his writings the dialectical relationship of

social constructions illustrated by Berger and

Luckmann: “society is a product of man. Society is

an objective reality. Man is a social product” (

Berger,

1990)

. The social construction theory and approach to

the reality of Peter L Berger and Luckmann has been

revised by looking at the very substantive

phenomenon of mass media in the process of

externalization, subjectivization, and internalization,

which came to be known as "social construction of

mass media". According to this perspective, the

stages in the social media process of mass media

take place through (a) the stage of preparing the

construction material; (b) distribution stage of

construction; (c) the stage of construction formation;

(d) the confirmation stage.

1.2 The Conceptualization of

Campaign

Roger and Storey define a campaign as "a set of

planned communication actions with the goal of

creating a certain effect on a large number of

audiences that are conducted over a period of time."

Pfau and Parrot divide campaign into positive

campaigns and the attacking campaign. The

attacking campaign itself has divided again into

negative campaigns and black campaigns. There are

several basic principles that should be concerned

regarding the development of campaign strategies, it

is a Positioning, Branding, and Segmenting. From

those strategies, it is very important to make

planning, and campaign strategy absolutely because

it requires an adequate understanding of the situation

and behavior of voter audience.

1.3 The Conceptualization of

Propaganda

The term propaganda is familiar to us, especially

in the political area which is often used as a winning

strategy. Propaganda is derived from the Latin word

“propagare” which means to plant a bud. It is a

form of art and communication that is often also

applied in political activities

(Arifin, 2011).

Propaganda is an attempt to shape, influence,

change, and direct and control the attitude and

opinion of the community to achieve a specific

purpose

(Arifin, 2008). Propaganda is usually done by

individuals, groups, parties, groups, or countries to

achieve their interests. In achieving the desired

outcome, propagandists usually spread the thought

or idea of constructing or even creating an event and

then repeatedly inculcated and implanted into the

heart and mind of the target. Harold D. Laswell, says

that "Propaganda in the broadest sense is the

technique of insfluencing human action by the

manipulation of representations. Gun Gun Heryanto

stated on his book entitled "Introduction to

Communication Politics", some of the frequently

used Propaganda techniques: Name- Calling,

Glittering Generalities, Card Stacking, Plain Folks,

Band Wagon, testimonials.

There are much previous research accordion to

media relations and terrorism, among other things

are a research conducted by Brooks and Manza

entitled “The religious factor in U.S. Presidential

election 1960-1992”. The research studied the

relationships between religion and political

behavior. Brooks and Manza emphasize the fact that

religion has a greater influence on voting rather than

other factors such as class or socioeconomic status.

This study focuses on voting behavior, while our

research is more on the construction of religious

issues contained in the mass media, especially in

Metrotv and Inewstv. Another previous research is a

research from Branton, Regina P, entitled Voting in

initiative elections: This research finds the influence

of racial and ethnic diversity in election initiatives.

They argue that race and ethnicity have a strong

influence on many issues because the origins of the

issues in the society are predominantly white voters,

so it is excluding some minority racial opinions.

This research is also carried out quantitatively, while

our research is more on qualitative research and

focuses on issues of religious issues in campaigns

and propaganda.

2 METHOD

The method that is used in this study is a

qualitative research method. Qualitative research by

Denzin and Lincoln focuses its attention on a variety

of methods, which include an interpretive and

naturalistic approach to the subject of the study

(Denzin, 2009). The study is used various attempts to

collect data including both primary and secondary

data. news texts containing religious issues in

candidate campaigns and propaganda in the 2017

Jakarta Regional Head election are tailored to the

needs of the research data. Literature Study is

carried out as secondary data. Additionally,

interviews will be held with key informants and

other relevant sources. Data collection techniques

are conducted through the following stages: (1)

Interviews related to election organizers such as

Regional Election Commission (KPUD) Jakarta and

Election Supervisory Body

(Bawaslu) Jakarta, as

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

1452

well as respective representatives of candidate

number 2 (Ahok - Djarot) and serial number 3

(Anies-Sandi). (2) Analysis of campaign and

propaganda strategy conducted by Team from

candidate number 2 (Ahok - Djarot) and candidate

number 3 (Anies - Sandi).

3 DISCUSSION

3.1 General Contestation Overview in

Jakarta Election

The 2017 Jakarta Regional Election (PILKADA)

Constellation is indeed very hot. As the capital city

of Indonesia, Jakarta becomes its own parameter.

Various issues are played and discussed widely, not

apart from the propaganda that often occurs in the

community, especially among voters.

Some findings by Election Supervisory Body

(

Bawaslu) Jakarta related to the election conducted

by General Election Commission (KPU) are only

constrained on the technical, such as complaints

from people who have ID cards but not follow up

seriously. It is a common problem that is found by

Bawaslu in every Voting place (TPS). Besides from

Election Supervisory Body

(Bawaslu), the evaluation

of the election organizers was also responded by the

General Election Commission (KPU) of Jakarta.

One of them is the candidate pair number 2, who has

gathered religious leaders in a hotel before the

campaign period. This is an offense because those

candidate does not report to the General Election

Commission (KPU) of Jakarta. Instead, the related

party claimed only ask prayers of religious leaders.

Table 1: Recapitulation of violations in the second round

of Jakarta elections

Source Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) DKI Jakarta

There are several types of alleged violations based

on findings and reports in the round I and II. The

most frequent reports and findings were in the

Voters Data case which was 79 cases, followed by

the finding of alleged money politics with 68 cases,

Campaign notification as 40 cases, Black Campaign

in this case SARA as 37 cases, Campaign in Prayers

place and use of state facilities respectively about 15

cases, and etc. From the accumulation of findings

and reports from both the public and each candidate,

and adjusted with those types of alleged violation, it

can be categorized such as follows:. 1% violation of

ethical code, 2% criminal violation, Administration

violation 44%, and 48% is violation.

Table 2:Classification of types of alleged violations

3.2 Construction of the Ahok - Djarot

Campaign in the Jakarta Governor

Election

Besides using the Kotak-Kotak shirts, candidate

number 2 has a different greeting from their rivals. If

Anies - Sandi using the together greeting (Salam

Bersama), Ahok - Djarot uses two fingers greetings

(Salam Dua Jari), which is the symbol of their

candidate number. Greetings of two fingers

campaigned by Ahok-Djarot is not the first, before

2014 in the presidential election, Jokowi-Jusuf Kala

also uses two fingers as their symbol. When Ahok

and Djarot served as Governor and Vice Governor,

Jakarta's progress is greatly improved. It is

confirmed by various research results of survey

institute (LSI Denny JA) which shows the level of

public satisfaction on performance Ahok and Djarot

above 70%, exactly 73%. Because of that, choosing

Ahok-Djarot becomes highly reasonable. Also, this

candidate is displaying tagline hard work and hard

work (Kerja,Kerja,Kerja).

Figure 1: two fingers greetings

The Symbolic Construction of Religious Issues in the 2017 Campaign and Propaganda in Jakarta Election

1453

3.3 Construction of Ahok - Djarot

Propaganda in the Election of

Jakarta Governor

The ongoing Islamic Defense action made the

electability of Ahok decrease. The slogan of “Saya

Pancasila" (i am Pancasila) and "Saya Bhineka

Tunggal Ika" (i am unity in diversity) are often

pronounced by Ahok-Djarot supporters to recall that

Indonesian is a Pancasila and a state of diversity.

Therefore, it is very wrong if there are thoughts that

only support one group. It was also delivered by

Basuki Tjahaya Purnama or Ahok considers the

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)

support to be based on nationalist principles. In that

principle, PDI-P believes that every Indonesian

person is entitled to be democracy without regard to

race and religion.

In addition, there was also news spread through

short messages on the website and blog that says that

if Anies and Sandi were elected as Governor of

Jakarta, then Jakarta will be used sharia law. There

is a statement that has been signed by Anies-Sandi to

agree on those issues, yet it was disputed by Anies

because his signature is not him.

3.4 Construction of Couples Anies

Sandi Campaign

In the Anies - Sandi campaign, there is a symbolic

construction which is regarded as a real objective.

Like “Coblos Peci” (vote the ‘Islamic’ cap), it is a

symbolic construct that Anies-Sandi is trying to

build a representative of Islam that most Muslims

are very familiar with “Peci”. It is used as an

invitation for the Islamic community to choose

them. The philosophy of #SalamBersama begins

Thursday, October 20, 2016, Anies and Sandi

officially launched the logo for governor election.

There are no photos of them, yet there is a picture of

an open palm, white with a red line. Beside it is the

writing of “Salam Bersama”. This logo was inspired

by a national greeting that was inaugurated by Bung

Karno. Until now the national greeting is still valid.

Anies and Sandi popularized it again through

#SalamBersama.

Figure 2: Islam representation

3.5 Construction of Anies-Sandi

Propaganda in the Election of Jakarta

Governor

The construction of Propaganda in the Jakarta

regional election makes some people feel

uncomfortable because it is found as a race and

religion issue (SARA). However, in the second round

election, the issue of race and religion was

increasingly widespread, ranging from an invitation

not to receive the corpse of religious blasphemy

“penista agama”, who at that time was attached to

Ahok, to the refusal of Ahok's arrival to an area. The

appeal of "Rejecting the Corpse that supports

religious blasphemy " is a form of Propaganda that

has occurred. Scaring someone who votes for a

religious blasphemy case. This banner was found at

Masjid Al-Jihad, Gang BB, Kelurahan Karet,

Kecamatan Setiabudi, Jakarta Selatan.

Figure 3: religious blasphemy case

3.5 Campaign and Propaganda

Technique

3.5.1 Ahok-Djarot Campaign Technique

First is Branding. In the second round of election

contestation, branding that is attached to pair

number 2 Ahok - Djarot is firmness. Ahok

personality that is firmly about the law and his

control to the social problem becomes his trademark.

It has been proven by some of the firm's

performance that can fix Jakarta to be better, as well

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

1454

as controlling the land market, which used to be

chaotic, and now has become orderly and clean.

Second is Segmenting. Candidate number 2 has a

good experience in leading Jakarta. It can be seen on

the level of public satisfaction with the Ahok -

Djarot. It is confirmed by the Director of Poltracking

Hanta Yuda, who said that voters were rational,

most of them supported the candidate number 2 pair

because they are offering measurable work programs

and vision-missions, both also benefit the

satisfaction.

3.5.2 Anis-Sandi Campaign Technique

First is Positioning. Positioning is characteristic of

clear alignments and positions that differentiate a

candidate from other candidates. In the campaign

promises made by Anies- Sandi, the Reclamation

Issues and attitudes towards Reclamation policies

are very different. If Ahok pro with Reclamation,

with the condition that the developer contributes to

the development of the human index, Anies- Sandi is

different because they considered it is as a

detrimental to fishermen and other small

communities.

Second is Branding. In the 2017 Jakarta election,

Branding built by Anies - Password can be seen

from posters and campaigns delivered to the public.

One of the characteristics of the Anies candidate -

Sandi is the symbol of the black peci which is better

known as the attribute of Islam. Their jargon

"Pecinya" is annunciated voters to choose it as a

representation of Muslim in Jakarta.

The third is segmenting. Candidate number 3 Anies-

Sandi is very close to the Muslims. The Executive

Director of Poltracking states that Anies-Sandi voter

base is influenced by Sociological factors.

Meanwhile, Ahok is chosen more because of

rational voting factors. Moreover, Anies - Sandi is

chosen because of religious similarity and has a

sociological closeness.

3.5.3 Propaganda Technique of

Ahok-Djarot Campaign

Name Calling Technique. This technique is usually

used to embed bad labels on a person. In the second

round of Jakarta elections, there were several

attempts to instill a bad label on the Anies by

accusing Anies of being a Shiite. This is distributed

via short messages, Whatsapp. Besides that, the

accusation of Anies, a Shia follower, on this

propaganda technique, there are also Jakarta

accusations that it will be sharia if the Anies-Sandi

pair becomes Governor. Glittering Generalities. It is

a propaganda technique by using a "good word" to

draw something to get support. In this case candidate

number 2, using the phrase "Saya Bhineka Tunggal

Ika" as if voters must accept differences, despite

differences in tribes, as well as beliefs. The

existence of Islamic Defense Action that

successively has to decrease Ahok electability

because accused as a religious blasphemy, plus

Ahok is a minority ethnicity. "Saya Bhineka

Tunggal Ika" trying to neutralize the Islamic

Defense Action that Muslims should accept the

difference.

Next is Card Stacking. The researcher saw an

interesting statement from Ahok in Republika, he

said that, "Saya kan lambang untuk

mempertontonkan pita bhinneka tunggal ika,

mempertontonkan demokrasi". In his statement, it is

implicit as Ahok is a representation of diversity and

tries to present a complete democracy. Then, Plain

Folks. This technique invites or encourages the

audience to participate in the collaboration. The

tagline "Jakarta kita" by Ahok - Djarot team invites

all voters of Jakarta to believe that “Jakarta is ours".

Last, Testimonials. This propaganda technique is the

words of someone, and it is usually obtained from

the words of someone who is respected or hated to

promote or belittle a purpose.

3.5.4 Propaganda technique of Anies-Sandi

Campaign

Name Calling. It is one of the propaganda

techniques carried out by Anies-Sandi team to give

bad labels or ideas to the opponent. The issue of

propaganda practiced, such as do not choose

religious blasphemy “penista agama”, jail religious

blasphemy, catch ahok for religious blasphemy. The

sentences have shown that Ahok is a religious

blasphemy and must be imprisoned.

Figure 4: Name Calling “religious blasphemy”

The Symbolic Construction of Religious Issues in the 2017 Campaign and Propaganda in Jakarta Election

1455

Glittering Generalities. It a technique that uses a

"good word" to draw something to get support. This

propaganda can affect people by eviction, and invite

sympathy and participant as citizens. Next is Card

Stacking. It carefully selects accurate or inaccurate,

logical or illogical statements, as for building a

statement. In this context, the propaganda done by

Anies-Sandi Team is in his statement with the

sentence, “Di dunia nyata, kita tetap tenang. Tetapi

di dunia virtual, kita mendapat kekerasan” (In the

real world, we remain calm. But in the virtual world,

we get violence). This statement is ambiguous, but it

can be a domino effect to the citizens of Jakarta is

being threatened in social media about the issue and

propaganda by the enemy.

Another technique is Plain Folks. It is an appeal as if

the speakers are in voters side. It is done by using

the dictionary "Jakarta Maju Bersama" (Jakarta

Forward Together) which seems to invite the

constituents to move forward in advancing Jakarta.

“Select the Governor with the same religion"," select

the Muslim leader "who also indirectly invites the

voters to choose Governor or Muslim leader. Last is

Testimonials. One of Japan's leading magazines,

Foresight, at the end of April 2010 mentioned that

Anies Baswedan is an influential figure in the next

20 years. Therefore, Anies-Sandi team has shared

this information as one of the advantages or it could

be said as a testimonial carried out by the famous

magazine for Anies Baswedan.

4 DISCUSSION

The study concludes that there are issues of

ethnicity, religion and race (SARA) of the two

gubernatorial candidates in the regional head

elections (Pilkada) of Jakarta, especially in the

second round by using various lines such as above

line media, below line media, new media, and

outdoor media. The existence of Propaganda is a

weapon for every candidate pair to attack the

opponent, but from both parties no one admitted to

be involved with the process of distribution and

production of those propaganda. However, Anies-

Sandi party admitted that they get benefits from the

momentum of SARA issues. Campaign media and

propaganda are carried out in various ways, through

television, radio, print media, online and

international media. All media seem to be integrated

with the evolving issues. Television raises the issue

of social media that is becoming a trending topic,

whereas social media raises the issue that is being

raised by common media.

REFERENCES

Arifin, Anwar (2011) Komunikasi Politik. Yogyakarta:

Graha Ilmu.

Berger, Peter L dan Luckman, Thomas. (1990). Tafsir

Sosial atas Kenyataan. Jakarta : LP3S. hlm. 87

Branton, Regina P. (2004). Voting in initiative elections:

Does the context of racial and ethnic diversity matter?

State Politics and Policy Quarterly. 4(3), 294-317

Burhan Bungin. (2011). Konstruksi Sosial Media Massa.

Jakarta: Kencana Prenada Media Group

Cooperman, Alan. et.al, (2016). Evangalicals Rally to

Trump, Religious „Nones‟ Back Clinton: Declining

Share of U.S Public Says It is Important for Presiden

to Have Strong Religious Beliefs. PewResearchCenter

Denzin, Norman K & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (2009).

Handbook of Qualitative Research, Dariyanto dkk

(terj.). Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar Teknologi

Komunikasi di Masyarakat. Jakarta : Kencana

Firmanzah (2004), Marketing Politik. Jakarta : Yayasan

Pustaka Obor Indonesia.

Handbook The Political literacy Institute (2016), Literasi

Politik dan Pelembagaan Pemilu. Jakarta: Fikom

Universitas Pancasila Press.

Heryanto, Gun Gun dan Rumaru, Shulhan (2013).

Pengantar Komunikasi Politik. Bogor: Ghalia

Indonesia.

J. Prihatmoko, Joko (2008). Mendemokratiskan Pemilu :

dari sistem sampai elemen teknis. Yogyakarta:

Lembaga Penelitian, Pengembangan, dan Pengabdian

Masyarakat, Universitas Hasyim Semarang

Larson, C. (2010). Persuasion, 12th ed. Belmont: CA:

Wadsworth Publishing Co,

Morissan (2010), Teori Komunikasi Massa. Bogor: Ghalia

Indonesia.

Mujani, S., R. Liddle, William dan Ambardi, Kuskrido.

(2011). Kuasa Rakyat. Analisis tentang Perilaku

Memilih dalam Pemilihan Legislatif dan Presiden

Indonesia Pasca Orde Baru. Jakarta: Mizan Publika.

Pawito (2009), Komunikasi Politik; media massa dan

Kampanye Pemilihan. Yogyakarta: Jalasutra.

Perloff,M. (2010).The Dynamics of Persuasion, 4th ed.

New York: Routledge

Pfau, Michael & Parrot, Roxanne. (1993). Persuasive

Communication Campaign. Massachussets: Allyn and

Bacon

Rahman, Arif (2010), Strategi Dahsyat Marketing Mix for

small Business: cara jitu merontokkan pesaing. Jakarta

: Trans Media Pustaka.

Roger, EM & Storey J.D. Communication Campaign.

dalam C.R. Berger & S.H Chaffee (eds.) 1987.

Handbook of Communications Science. New Burry

Park, CA : Sage

Shoemaker , Pamella J., Reese, Stephen D (1996).

Medating The Message. New York: Longman

Publishers.

Subakti, Ramlan (1999), Memahami ilmu politik, Jakarta:

Grasindo.

Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman , and Brady,

Henry E. (1995). Voice and Equality. Civic

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

1456

Voluntarism in American Politics. Camridge: Harvard

University Press.

Wuryanta, AG Eka Wenat. (2004). Ideologi, Militerisme

dan Media Massa: Representasi Legitimasi dan

Delegitimasi Ideologi dalam Media Massa. (Studi

Analisis Wacana Kritis Media Massa dalam Situasi

Krisis di Indonesia terutama untuk Harian Angkatan

Bersenjata dan Berita Yudha periode 19651966). Tesis

Pascasarjana Komunikasi UI

The Symbolic Construction of Religious Issues in the 2017 Campaign and Propaganda in Jakarta Election

1457