Azyumardi Azra: Empowering Moderate Groups in Social Media Important

Jakarta, PPIM – Noted Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra underlined about the importance of empowering moderate groups to convey peace messages in social media, urging the groups not to be a silent majority.

“There are a lot of moderate groups in Indonesia. Unfortunately, they prefer to keep silent. They do not want to speak up. We have to persuade them to be role models in fighting against violence,” Azra said on Friday (27/11) in a virtual seminar of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Religious Moderation and Polarization in Cyberspace”.

The seminar was organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

Former rector of the UIN Jakarta, Azra said that religious conservatism had been growing intensely because it was spread massively in social media, with gadgets being the most effective tools to spread both conservative and moderate values.

“If we talk about political conservatism, it is more about the mindset of not accepting the concept of Pancasila and NKRI [the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia]. It supports Islamic caliphate and Daulah Islamiyah [criminal group],” Azra said.

“Religious conservatism, as well as radical and terroristic thinking, that is disseminated through social media has created dilemma,” he added.

Azra suggested that there should be groups of people who could actively speak up and educate public to filtrate the information they found on social media and sort out which information should be ignored. He said that people should avoid contents that tended to promote violence.

The virtual seminar on Religious Moderation is held every Friday via “Convey Indonesia” official Youtube channel. The discussion, moderated by Convey Indonesian Team Leader Jamhari Makruf, also presented other speakers, including Iim Halimatusa’diyah, Ph.D, a coordinator of MERIT Program, dan social media influencer Indra Dwi Prasetyo, who is also Managing Director of ID Next Leader.

Writer : Humaira
Editor: Zhella Apriesta