Political Communication Pattern Of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia After Dissolved

Abstract

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) is a transnational Islamic group that has a political agenda to establish an Islamic state or an Islamic caliphate government system. Since its legal entity was revoked and dissolved by the government, HTI has turned into an underground struggle movement that continues to carry out political movements to achieve its goal of implementing the Islamic caliphate system. The question is how the HTI movement after being dissolved, especially in relation to HTI's political communication. This study aims to determine the communication approach and political movements of HTI after its dissolution. To answer these objectives, researchers used descriptive qualitative research methods. Involves HTI activists, political experts, and the public as informants. The results of the study found that after being dissolved, HTI was still practicing political communication unopenly. This movement uses social media as a political communication approach as it is considered effective and does not violate government regulations. This open political communication was carried out as a form of protest to the government that HTI was legally dissolved, but in fact, the HTI movement still exists through various social media platforms. This effort is also recognized as a form of commitment by HTI activists in conveying the purpose of da'wah to the community.

Keywords: Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, political communication, political media, social media

Introduction

Since entering Indonesia, Hizbut Tahrir is one of the movement groups that has had considerable development and influence in Indonesia. Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) identifies itself as a non-parliamentary Islamic political party movement. HTI as a change movement group that has an ideological concept that is fought for in people's lives. The agenda for the political struggle of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia by its activists is to restore Islamic life by upholding the Islamic caliphate in Indonesia (Wijaksono & Jamaan, 2014). The concept of khilafah Islamiyah that was promoted and fought by HTI activists is an ideology that is different from the ideology of the Indonesian nation that exists today.

Khilafah Islamiyah in the view of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) activists is a concept that brings solutions to various problems of the nation and society (Qohar & Hakiki, 2017). In the concept, in the view of HTI activists, Khilafah Islamiyah is a system of government of a country based on Islamic Sharia and offers solutions to various national problems such as law enforcement, education, poverty, economy, and so on. Of course, it raises debate in the community (Jonkennedi, 2012).

In Indonesia, Hizbut Tahrir has long gained space and even become an official institution and has a legal entity. The existence of HTI is able to influence some people's thinking from various walks of life. According to research conducted by Alvara Research Center and Mata Air Foundation 23, 4% of students agree with the establishment of the Khilafah, 23.3% of high school students agree to the establishment of the Khilafah, 18.1 private employees disagree with Pancasila, 9.1% of State-owned Institutions (BUMN) employees disagree with Pancasila and 19.4% of civil servants disagree with Pancasila. Among those involved in the survey were students. The condition is in accordance with the psychological period, which is considered very unstable so that it is easily influenced by external thinking. Teenagers are also considered to be more closely following the development of HTI through various media.

In July 2017, the Indonesian government officially dissolved Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) by revoking its legal status through the Decree of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number AHU-30.AH.01.08 of 2017. The revocation of HTI legal entity status has been officially decided by the court, this was done as a follow-up to government regulations in lieu of Law number 2 of 2017, which amended Law Number 17 of 2013 concerning social organizations. Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia through its organizational activities is considered spreading ideology and political movements that are contrary to Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945). In terms of institutions and organizations, the legal entity of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia has been revoked and all of its organizational activities have been banned and dissolved, but after pre-research, that the author is doing is a new political movement carried out by HTI activists, which continues silently through the media.

Problem Statement

Based on the explanation on the research background, the authors are interested in examining the problems related to how the political communication approach of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) after its dissolution. Of course, this is interesting and important because even though legality has been frozen, the HTI movement is still running in secret or hidden by taking advantage of the existence of social media. Even the political media used could be more effective considering the social media networks that are not limited by time and space.

Research Questions

To answer the above problems, the research question of the study:

What is political communication approach by Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia?

What is political communication media of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) after its dissolution?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to answer research questions, namely to determine the political communication approach and political communication media of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) after its dissolution.

Research Methods

This research uses a descriptive qualitative approach. Qualitative is a research method used to examine natural object conditions, where the researcher is the key instrument and the results of qualitative research emphasize the meaning rather than generalization. The object of qualitative research is scientific, so this research method is called the naturalistic method. Natural objects are objects that are what they are, not manipulated by the researcher, so the conditions when the researcher enters the object, after being in the object and after leaving the object, are relatively unchanged (Sugiyono, 2017). The object referred to is the political communication approach and political media of HTI.

Data collection techniques through interviews and field observations. The interviews involved HTI activists, political experts and the public. The interview is one of the favorite methodological tools for qualitative researchers. Interview is a form of conversation, the art of listening questions. The interview is not a neutral tool in producing reality (Denzin & Lincoln, 2009). An interview is a meeting of two people to exchange information and ideas, through question and answer, so that the meaning can be constructed in a particular topic. Researchers conducted interviews with direct eye contact with the sources, this is very important so that the data that the authors get is accurate according to the direct facts of the informants.

The paradigm used by researchers is the constructivist paradigm. The constructivist paradigm is a paradigm which is almost the antithesis of an understanding that places observation and objectivity in finding a reality or science (Hidayat et al., 2020). This paradigm views social science as a systematic analysis of socially meaningful actions. Knowledge is obtained through detailed direct observation of social behavior in a natural daily environment in order to be able to understand and interpret how the social actors concerned create and maintain or manage their social world.

Findings

In this section, the researcher will describe the findings in the field. Based on the results of the interviews the researchers conducted, the researchers obtained data results, which the researchers then described in the form of a discussion. This research focuses on the political approach of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) after its dissolution. The aspects described include the views of the Islamic Khilafah according to HTI activists, HTI political communications after being dissolved, and the public’s view of the HTI political movement after its dissolution.

After its dissolution, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) only changed its political communication pattern by using online media as a space for them to campaign for their ideas and thoughts. Political communication can be interpreted as a communication approach used for certain political achievements (Wahid, 2018). The approach used by HTI is the use of social media. This effort was taken because HTI realizes that the flow of new media in Indonesia is flowing very quickly, and indirectly HTI actually also uses democracy as a way to realize its ideals through social media. This media is used as a channel for political communication in an unopenly manner, after being officially dissolved from conducting open activities.

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Based on the figure 1 above, Hizbut Tahrir's political communication after being dissolved by the Indonesian government, their political communication is carried out by infiltrating various institutions and public agencies through its activists, utilizing various social media channels for example Youtube, Twitter and Instagram and selling Al Wa'ie magazine and Media Umat tabloid.

Since the government dissolved Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the HTI group's communication approach changed, HTI activists said that HTI was only limited in its activities, not dissolved. HTI believes that they are a da'wah movement that cannot be prohibited by anyone, because da'wah is a form of legality and God's command. Therefore, HTI activists continue to carry out da'wah using various social media. From the results of research conducted by the author, the political media Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) uses various social media platforms including YouTube. HTI activists realize that youtube is part of a new media that is strategic in conveying its political message. HTI uses the media as a movement and approach to political communication. Khilafah channel is a youtube channel that contains content on various study themes from Hizbut Tahrir Indonesian figures. Since it was created on August 12, 2017, with the tagline of the kaffah Islamic da'wah media and a description of the channel, "a public channel to speak out the truth and uphold justice in Allah's earth". Khilafah channel already has 25,227 subscribers and 132 video content with various themes and will continue to grow over time. HTI figures who fill in video content in the khilafah channel include Ismail Yusanto, Rochmat S Labib, Hafidz Abdurrahman, Yasin Muthohar, Farid Wajdi, Shiddiq Al Jawi (Hizbut, 2009).

Another social media that is used as a political tool for HTI is Instagram. Instagram has become a social media that is very attractive to many people, with Instagram sharing videos, photos and stories can be done easily and quickly. Instagram as HTI's social media through media accounts affiliated with it such as the Khilafah channel, community media, and the personal account of Rochmat Labib, a very well known HTI figure, has thousands of followers. If you pay close attention, the content on the Instagram account is similar to the content on YouTube.

Twitter is the next media, which is also used as a political media for HTI. Through the media twitter, HTI activists try to convey da'wah messages, most of which are criticizing government policies, which are considered incompatible with religious sharia. HTI, through its figures and sympathizers, is very sharp in speaking out related to politics, and if you pay close attention, supporters of HTI and the Islamic Khilafah are increasingly appearing on Twitter. Whenever there is a political issue that becomes a trending topic, HTI activists will come up with a voice through their tweets.

HTI also uses whatsApp to spread messages related to content sourced from their social media. HTI also makes broadcast messages related to current political issues, which are then widely disseminated in a very fast time. Interaction activity on whatsApp is the most difficult to control because it is the most personal social media that allows individuals and groups to interact directly via messages or share pictures, videos, sounds or create a story status. Relating with so many groups and message sharing activities, this is one of the reasons for the rampant news of hoaxes, hate speech, provocations that often have a wide impact.

WhatsApp apart from being the most personal social media is also the most independent media. Different from other social media, which has restrictions on the content that is shared, whatsApp does not specifically create restrictions in sharing messages. This is what then makes the dissemination of information in whatsApp difficult to monitor because it is personal. For HTI cadres and activists, they created their own whatsApp group to form a new cadre.

Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) manages its social media accounts in a structured and strategic manner. They no longer use the name of HTI in each of their social media accounts, but content related to HTI politics still dominates. Even on the YouTube platform through the Khilafah channel, HTI makes professional videos with good picture and sound quality. They upload videos regularly with different themes. HTI political media also uses tabloids and magazines, which are still traded freely and at a definitely cheap price.

Not only through one platform, HTI has also promotes their ideas through personal social media accounts of figures and activists. Through posts on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, HTI leaders always speak up when it comes to politics and religious issues that are currently being discussed by the public. They also formed a group through the WhatsApp group, which spoke very intensively when the current issues were political and religious issues. Thus, through social media platforms, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia is still alive even though it has been dissolved. A very communicative media management makes the public interested in accessing their social media. HTI has a very militant and well-conceptualized political communication strategy. They are aware that the vast social media space can be a very good advantage in marketing ideas and thoughts that come from their ideology.

To achieve its political goals, HTI campaigns its ideas and ideas to a wide audience, in this case the public. HTI takes a militant approach to political communication to various levels of society. Audiences are usually referred to as recipients, targets, readers, listeners, viewers, audiences, or communicants. Audience is one element of the communication process (Cangara, 2014). Not all people support and are exposed to HTI's ideology, the majority of Indonesians agree that HTI should be dissolved because its activities are against Pancasila and endanger the life of the nation.

Conclusion

After the dissolution of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), it has a new way of political struggle that is not openly using social media. HTI has their opinion that legally the government can revoke it, but in terms of movement, it cannot be stopped. HTI ideas and thoughts have grown in some circles of society. HTI's political movement is not just a discourse but is present in people's lives. HTI through its movement is very clear against nationalism, Pancasila, and Indonesia as the nation stage that has been agreed upon by the nation's founder. HTI benefits because internet access via social media is easy and fast, even though HTI Figures and activists have been dissolved, they still have rooms and spaces to carry out their Political movements.

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