Is the Indonesian Government Islamophobic? Studies Using Social Network Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to map the narratives, networks, and influential figures on social media Twitter after the arrest of suspected terrorists (Farid Okbah cs and Sunardi) by Detachment 88 anti-terror in Indonesia. We use the social network and content analysis methods in collecting and analyzing research data. The results of this study show that the anti-Islamic political group with government (opposition) is currently trying to make a narrative that the Indonesian government is Islamophobic, by utilizing the momentum of suspected terrorist arrests in Farid Okbah and Sunardi by Detachment 88 by shifting the issue of terrorist arrests from the JI group who are also members of MUI with the demand for dissolving the Government Institution Detachment 88 Anti-terror. The social network map shows that there were three groups engaged in the arrest of suspected terrorists Farid Okbah and Sunardi, 1) Muslim Group Cyber Army (MCA); 2) Pro-government buzzer group through Denny Siregar’s account; 3) The provocateurs group. The arrest of Farid Okbah and Sunardi turned into political issues, Islamic groups (MUI) vs. Government (Detachment). The arrest of Farid Okbah by Detachment 88 was dominated by #saminawaathonaibhrs and #Islamophobia, while the dominant narrative after the suspected arrest of Sunardi’s is #PKItangkapulama (PKI Arrest Ulama) and #dukungMUI (Support MUI), both of these things showed an effort to accompany the issue to the political narrative of the opposition group to weaken the government with the narrative that discriminated government of Islamic groups.
 Keywords: Islamophobia, social network analysis, narrative analysis, social media