Savic Ali: Intolerant Media to be Defeated

PPIM.UINJKT.AC.ID – Director of NU Online and Islami.co, Savic Ali, revealed the latest condition regarding the contestation of Islamic narratives in the media, saying that intolerant media had started to lose to moderate Islamic ones.

“I am optimistic [that the intolerant media will lose]. This is an interesting and exciting development,” Savic said on Friday (7/8) in a virtual seminar series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Religious Moderation in Media”, which 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.

Savic saw that the trend of Islamic reality in cyberspace had shifted from exclusive to be more inclusive. It was proven by the rise of popularity of moderate Islamic-based online portals in Indonesia. Top three religion-based websites were NU Online, Islami.co, and bincangsyariah, all of which adopted moderate thinking. On the social media, particularly YouTube, moderate Muslim figures, such as Gus Baha and Quraish Shihab, had started to gain popularity.

Savic went on to say that to build inclusivity and tolerance in Indonesia, there should be some religious approaches through new media. A research entitled “We Are Social” showed that as of January 2020, Indonesia recorded 175.4 millions of active internet users and 160 millions of active social media users. This data showed a big map of the growing online participation in the country.

He also cited a research by Pew Research Center conducted in 2017, which showed that 93% of Indonesian citizens considered that religions were crucial issues, and thus social transforms could be done through religious approaches. Religious moderation activists, therefore, were encouraged to be more active in boosting the moderate Islamic media.

“The internet is a big river of information; how and to where the water flows depends on its source. So, it is about how we produce clean and healthy water sources,” Savic said. 

He then suggested that religious moderation activists on social media pay attention to the more practical and instant development of Muslims today. They should create contents that promoted moderation, but were still relevant with daily life, such as the procedures to praying and basic religious teaching.

If they could be consistent with that, religious moderation in cyberspace would be able to influence the future thoughts of Indonesian Muslim.

The virtual seminar on Religious Moderation is held every Friday via “Convey Indonesia” official Youtube channel. The discussion, moderated by Convey Indonesia Team Leader Jamhari Makruf, also presented other speakers, such as Ed Sepsha (a journalist of Kyodo News), Makroen Sanjaya (Deputy Editor-in-Chief of RTV), and Muhammad Hanifuddin (Editor-in-Chief of Buletin Jumat Muslim Muda Indonesia).

Writer: Aptiani Nur Jannah
Editor: M. Nida Fadlan