Indonesian Young People and Digital Activism: Digital Preferences and Strategies to Participate in Social and Political Engagement

Indonesian young people have developed a reputation for playing a prominent role in high-stakes and controversial political issues in political movements, especially the one that forced Suharto’s resignation from the presidency in 1998 (Aspinall 2005; Budiman et al. 2012; Gazali 2014; Hill and Sen 2005; Lee 2011; Lussier and Fish 2012). Therefore, youth activism has been a mobilising force for all significant Indonesian regime and political system changes. Participation in citizens' political development has been considered a vital element for an effective and healthy democracy (Bakker and De Vreese 2011; Carpentier 2011). Moreover, previous research mentioned that youth was an asset for political participation, and the way to increase youth political participation is to engage these young people with digital media (Ramli 2012, Suwana, 2018). As active citizens, young people are an essential target for political participation, and digital media represents useful tactics to improve young people’s political participation. Moreover, digital activism has enormous potential to amplify the capacities of activists and social movements. It has also become a popular form by Indonesian young people to support social and political change (Suwana, 2019, 2021). This paper explores digital activism conducted by Indonesian youth (activist, university students, student leaders, community leaders, and political volunteers) who have the same belief in making political changes. Simultaneously, they have different digital preferences and strategies to participate in social and political engagement actively. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the new online modes for Indonesian youth to participate in the anti-corruption movement, environmental movement, and presidential campaign movement.