The Directorate General of Population and Civil Registry revealed that as of January 01, 2018 to April 17, 2019 there were 5,035,887 first-time voters in DP4. Jeune and Raccord (2019) state that more than 60% of Indonesia’s millennial generation does’nt care about politics. In addition, this survey also found that the potential of abstentions in millennial youth reached >40%. A question arises in response to this phenomenon. Millennial youth or often referred to as digital natives generation who incidentally do have more access to various information, why do they not care about politics in Indonesia ?.
Democracy and politics are two things that are inseparable. One of the things that plays a major role in building a dignified democratic system is politics. The journey ofDemocracy and politics are two things that are inseparable. One of the things that plays a major role in building a dignified democratic system is politics. The journey of democracy in Indonesia has often experienced ups and downs since the birth of this republic. Nur, et al (2015) mentioned that a democratic system can be said to work if it has fulfilled several characteristics, such as; fair and periodic elections.
Moreover, the influence of the presence of digital natives generation can influence the vote acquisition in political contestation.
In the era of President Joko Widodo’s administration, policies were very focused
on economic development, but did not care about political development. This is one of the things that really needs to be addressed, given the high rate of indifference of the digital natives to politics Indonesia. Alvara Research Center (2014) found that the generation of digital natives even more a topic of conversation related to music/ film, sports, and technology. Therefore we need a special education given to the generation of digital natives to increase political participation.
Political education for the younger generation is regulated in Presidential Instruction No. 12 of 1982 concerning Political Education for the Young Generation, which states that the substance provided in this education includes; (a) cultivation of ideological, national and state awareness (b) developing political abilities and personal abilities to realize the needs and desires to participate in politics; (c) trust in the government; (d) confidence in sustainable development.
Political education that is suitable to be applilater digital generations through digital media such as the use of social media applications in the electoral arena is increasingly widespread now, this is because social media has a broad reach, and in terms of cost is cheaper than using classic print media, for example banners, pamphlets, liflets and so on, and the reality of the community, especially among students who on average have used various social media applications. The urgency of social media can be used as a means to socialize the vision, mission, and platform (work program) of legislative candidates, so that they can make smart decisions to vote.
The use of social media as a means to access knowledge about elections, as measured by: (a) knowing about legislative elections by accessing social media, (b) other sources of information about legislative elections (c) the urgency of knowing legislative election information.
Campaigns are political activities, because of that what is involved in this activity are communicators, the media and political messages. The campaign can be carried out through social media with interesting content so that many young people are interested. So both from political parties, the government, or stake holders can give messages (pictures, memes, videos, etc.) or information related to the political world through social media, so that it will be more easily conveyed later.
