Cultural and Linguistic Communication MULTICULTURALISM AND SUBCULTURE IN 2019 INDONESIAN GENERAL ELECTIONS RISWANDI 1, MORISSAN1, Dan SOFIA AUNUL1 1M.Si, Universitas Mercu Buana, West Jakarta, Indonesia Corresponding author: Riswandi; e-mail: [email protected] Abstract In addition, the 2019 election was relatively The issues of multiculturalism and subculture are different compared to the previous elections, developing in the events of the Indonesian elections in 2019 since in this election frictions occurred based on such as democracy or equality in the fields of law, social, religion, ethnicity, culture, gender, regionalism, political, and cultural, human rights, honesty, justice, political choice, and unfair legal enforcement, so that psychological factors, and political choices. people tend to split. The problem of this research is related These frictions did not only hit the grassroots to the cultural perceptions of the Jakarta multicultural community, but they also hit the elite groups, community towards the events of the 2019 election. The case studied was the 2019 election and the primary data including the political party elites. was obtained through interviews with 8 informants from Some indications prove that there already were the Javanese, Sundanese, Bugis, Chinese, Batak and Betawi conflicts in the society by the appearance of some subcultures. Data were analysed using the Miles and terms in the mainstream media and social media Huberman models which included data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing / verification. The results that seem to represent the two camps of two showed that the cultural perceptions of the Jakarta presidential / vice presidential in the 2019 elections multicultural community were based on subcultural such as "religious detractors", "Cebong versus perceptions, in which the Javanese, Batak and Chinese subcultures tended to support Jokowi-Maruf Amin, while kampret", "mukidi", "chubby face", "sontoloyo", the Sunda, Betawi, and Bugis subcultures tended to genderuwo ". According to Saeful Mujani Research support Prabowo-Sandiaga. Non-verbal behaviour of & Consulting (SMRC), Saidiman Ahmad, terms subcultural members regarding the 2019 elections was oriented towards the Dominant Culture or Indonesian like this can divide the nation. In addition, much National Culture as part of Eastern Culture, and it was also information circulating in the community as seen influenced by their family background, profession and on social media, contains lies / "hoaxes". Social personal character. symptoms and terms like this have never appeared Keywords: cross cultural communication, cultural values, cultural perceptions, subculture. in previous elections in Indonesia. The Prabowo - Sandiaga camp stated that the 2019 election was considered dishonest and unfair 1. INTRODUCTION in the eyes of the law, so they sued Jokowi - Ma'ruf Amin’s victory, even though the lawsuit was In the 2019 general election in Indonesia the finally rejected by the Constitutional Court Judges. public discussed multiculturalism and The issues of injustice and dishonesty in the subcultural issues, namely democracy and electoral process apparently overlap with other equality in the legal, social, political and cultural issues related to subculture and multiculturalism, fields, human rights issues, honesty, justice, and also raising the demands and aspirations of the issue of law enforcement that is still "sharply marginalized groups such as lesbian, gay, down blunt upwards." These problems arise bisexual, and transgender people, as well as because the Indonesian people are factually a group, regional or tribal aspirations. The fact also pluralistic society, while some of the community shows that there are a number of areas where groups, including the participants in the 2019 Prabowo - Sandiaga had absolute wins such as election, feel that the government has not Aceh, Riau, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, DKI, accommodated their aspirations. Banten, West, and West Nusa Tenggara, while 292 Volume 9 • Issue 4, October / December 2019 • MULTICULTURALISM AND SUBCULTURE IN 2019 INDONESIAN GENERAL ELECTIONS on the other hand, Jokowi - Ma'ruf Amin recorded the history of the entry of major religions to the a total win in Central Java, East Java, East Nusa land of Java, ranging from Hinduism, Buddhism, Tenggara (NTT), and Papua. Christianity, and Islam all turned out to be well received by local residents at that time 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (BERNADETTE, 2013). So, even though Javanese culture is not monolithic or not homogeneous, Javanese culture is considered the dominant The method of this research is descriptive culture, and coincidentally the Javanese people with the technique of collecting data through are the most numerous in Indonesia. interviews and observations of 8 key informants MULYANA & RAKHMAT (2005) suggest of the residents of Jakarta who have different socio-cultural elements that are part of cultural backgrounds (subcultures), namely from intercultural communication as follows: the Javanese ethnic group (2 people); Batak (1); 1. Perception Sunda (1); Bugis (1); Betawi (1); and Chinese (2). Perception is an internal process that we do The criteria or characteristics of key informants to select, evaluate and organize stimuli from the are as follows: external environment. There are some socio- 1. Know about the 2019 election cultural elements that have a large and direct 2. Above 30 years old influence on the meanings we build in perception, 3. Residing in Jakarta namely: a) Belief system; b) value; attitude; c) Data were analysed using the interactive Worldview; d) Social organization (MULYANA models Miles and Huberman, which stated that & RAKHMAT, 2005). there was an interactive nature between data or 2. Verbal Processes data collection and data analysis including data 3. Nonverbal processes reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing There are three aspects of nonverbal processes / verification (Sugiyono: 2009). that are relevant to intercultural communication, namely: a) Nonverbal behaviour; (touch; 3. REVIEW OF LITERATURE handshake; eye contact); b) Time Concept; c). Use of space The areas mentioned are subcultures referring IRHANDAYANINGSIH (2012) found cases to the dichotomy of SAMOVAR et al., (2010), such as minority religious sects that did not while the dominant culture is the Indonesian obtain equality recognition from the majority national culture, Indonesian language, batik religious group to which they were affiliated. clothing, and so on. Likewise, other sub-cultures that still operate In Indonesia, the dominant culture refers to underground, exist but do not dare to present the national culture (for example, Indonesian themselves because of the fear of the social language), while the subcultures refer to regional consequences of the majority cultural groups, cultures such as Aceh, Malay, Minang, Batak, such as gays, lesbians, and atheist groups. Betawi, Chinese, Sundanese, Balinese, Sasak, MUKMIN (2016) states that the developing Dayak, Maluku, Bugis, and so on. If Indonesian liberal democracy in Indonesia today is apparently is referred to as the dominant culture, then understood differently by people who have cultural, regional languages, such as Acehnese, Batak ethnic, and religious diversity because it is given language, Malay, Sundanese and so on are through state-centric mechanisms. Local-based referred to as subcultural cultures. democracy exists to provide a great opportunity for In a political context, there is a kind of public every citizen who has different identities to show perception that "the president must be Javanese", their existence in state life. On the other hand, the and this can be considered an indication of the state has the right to provide political goods and dominant culture, even though there are no they facilitate the needs of people who have different written provisions in the constitution (the 1945 identities. IRHANDAYANINGSIH (2012) found Constitution). For some people, Javanese culture cases such as minority religious sects that did not is seen as strong and 'elastic'. The proof is that obtain equality recognition from the majority International Journal of Communication Research 293 RISWANDI, MORISSAN, Dan SOFIA AUNUL religious group to which they were affiliated. names of legislative candidates (although the Likewise, other sub-cultures that still operate latter are not all exactly known). This is said underground, exist but do not dare to present among others by the following sources: themselves because of the fear of the social "I know and pay attention to the name of the consequences of the majority cultural groups, such 01 presidential and vice-presidential candidate, as gays and lesbians, and atheist groups. namely Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin and Vice President A research conducted in Surakarta found a / Vice-President 02, namely Prabowo Subianto- change in knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of Sandiaga Uno. I get this info from mainstream Surakarta youth as a result of exposure to media such as television, as well as social media. multiculturalism issues in social media contents. In fact, I also know and pay attention to the The impact of exposure to the issue of characteristics of these two partners, namely if multiculturalism also depends on the initial Jokowi is thin, speaks quietly, incumbents, then conditions and personality characteristics of the Prabowo is well-built, passionate, firm and youth (RIYANTO, 2019). nominates three times as presidential candidate