To counter conservative narratives, @NUgarislucu, chooses satirical communication tactics. Its inspiration comes from jokes at the pesantren, which were formulated into fun and relaxed tweets on social media.
By
DIAN DEWI PURNAMASARI, IQBAL BASYARI
·4 minutes read
The lights became increasingly dim when students at a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in East Java began to fall asleep. After the recitation routine, some of them mingled in a room that was once the headquarters of the pesantren. Three young men were in discussion, occasionally laughing out loud, joined by a young man on a video call.
Late at night creative ideas fill the content of Twitter account @NUgarislucu. "Tomorrow we roll up the kultwit [Twitter lecture] about Banser [civilian security guards of Ansor, the youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama], because lately there are many [NU] friends complaining about the criticism and scorn toward Banser," said HM, one of the admin of @NUgarislucu, retelling the incident on Thursday (2/2/2023).
The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) social media administrators are joining forces to make moderate Islam go mainstream in cyberspace. The presence of moderate Islamic narratives in the online space is seen to be increasingly important.
At the age of NU entering a century, the challenge of conveying cool and moderate messages is dealing with social change. More and more residents are connected to the internet. The research of the Center for Islamic Studies and the Community of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta, said religious conservatism on social media was still dominant. Religious narratives on social media are controlled by accounts that tend to be conservative (Kompas, 2/1/2023).
> The Second Century of Nahdlatul UlamaTo counter conservative narratives, @NUgarislucu, which has 933,439 followers, chooses satirical communication tactics. Its inspiration comes from jokes at the pesantren, which were formulated into fun and relaxed tweets on social media. For example, on 7 May 2017 the @NUgarislucu account wrote, “The task of the authorities is to maintain security, the task of Banser is to maintain diversity. Your job is to buy quota for the internet.” The upload was made to respond to netizens who mentioned that guarding the church during Christmas was the task of the apparatus. Carrying the slogan “Convey the truth, even though it's funny,” the administrators try to relax in responding to scathing comments of netizens. The messages delivered by jokes are considered effective.
According to HM, previously they applied counter-narratives. The upload from provocative accounts was responded with strong argumentation that was equally strong. However, this strategy was less effective to attract netizens. Those who were pro to certain issues tended to hear opinions they liked.
UIN Syarif Hidayatullah's political communication lecturer, Gun Gun Heryanto, held the view that the Indonesian people are a community who tend to prioritize the feelings of others. NU grows in rural areas that are relevant to that condition, so he considered it natural for the ways of jokes to be used as tactics to voice religious moderation in the digital domain.
However, he noted that the jokes should remain proportional. Funny uploads still have to pay attention to the ethics of the community.
Positive narratives
The national coordinator of the Santri Nusantara Information Flow (AISNU) Anifatul Jannah said social media is the second environment after the real world. Therefore, narratives in the real world must be delivered in cyberspace. Thus, cyberspace is flooded with positive narratives and drowns out conservative narratives.
Similar to @NUgarislucu, AISNU flows positive narratives on social media, especially on Instagram. Through the Instagram account @aisnusantara they spread content about activities at the pesantren and santri in NU’s envisage. “We are a group of digital media movers and santri digital literacy so that the content production audience is more on santri and pesantren of NU with the basis of wasatriyah or moderation,” she said.
Besides the initiative of the members, NU in terms of an institution has a special “weapon” in spreading religion moderation, namely NU Online. The NU legal media spreads information service content on Islam. Since July 2003, NU Online has produced various content, including writings, graphics and videos.
According to Executive Editor of NU Online Mahbib Khoiron, the media strengthened its presence through the Super NU Online application. The portal which initially could only be accessed through the websites has now become a super application not only for information, but its contents also cover 20 features, including the Koran, shalat (prayer) schedule, a digital compass, worshipping tutorials and a zakat (alms) calculator.
According to Mahbib, the transformation is carried out to adapt in order to enable narratives being spread by a greater number of followers, especially the young generation. The content that is created not only targets nahdliyin (NU followers), but also Islamic people in general on worship, Indonesian Islam and Pancasila.
Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama central executive board Mohamad Syafi’ Alieha realized that in terms of quantity, the account that echoes religious moderation is less popular than the provocative accounts. As a result, NU is not adequately represented on social media.
However, he saw the trend of accounts which promote religious moderation to be increasing on social media. Many ulemas and NU activists are aware of the importance of going mainstream in the cyber world. They realize there is a challenge that has to be overcome for groups that have a religious political mission. If not countered with other narratives, this is feared to spark hatred and division.