Furqon Amrullah, Jakarta – The House of Representative’s (DPR) official Twitter account (@DPR_RI) held a poll following the issuance of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) Number 2/2017 on Social Organisations. The poll however suddenly vanished from circulation leading many netizens to ask why.
The account @DPR_RI opened the poll on Wednesday July 12 at 8.05pm. “The government has issued Perppu No. 2/2017 on Revisions to Law No. 17/2013 on Social Organisations, what is your opinion?”, wrote @DPR_RI.
The poll offered four answers to choose from: “I agree”, “I don’t agree”, “It’s not appropriate”, and “I don’t care”. It was planned that the poll would remain open for five days.
In less than 24 hours the poll had already produced a result with the choice “I agree” netting 37 percent, “I do not agree” 58 percent, “It’s not appropriate” 4 percent and “I don’t care” 2 percent.
At around 11.20pm on Thursday July 13 however, the poll disappeared from the @DPR_RI account page. Netizens were left asking why the poll disappeared.
“How come the poll was deleted @DPR_RI, yeah it’s a bit suspicious...”, wrote the owner of the account @minatrie.
The owner of the account @Shiwie6 also questioned why the Perppu poll had vanished. “@Sarah_Pndj @b3811nez @DPR_RI hey how come it was deleted min @DPR_RI? Lots of people who support you were there right??”, they wrote.
Then there was a caustic comment from @frans_surya who suggested that the page was removed because so many respondents opposed the Perppu. “The account @DPR_RI has deleted the poll on Perppu No. 2 2017. Because [you] lost yeah?”, it quipped.
An equally sharp comment was made by @Azp_airzone. “The Dpr poll’s been deleted,,, perhaps there were bani benteng and bani caleng [children of bulls and children of wild boors] who were feeling the heat”, they wrote. [Referring to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the principal supporter of the law]
“Finally the misguided poll made by admin @DPR_RI, HAS BEEN DELETED, guess which party is the administrator of the account @DPR_RI? Gerindra, PKS, PAN/Democrat?”, wrote another user. [A rhetorical question as these are parties in the DPR that do not support the Perppu]
Notes
1. Kiblat.net, which describes itself as a independent voice for the Muslim community, is a right-wing Islamic website that actively supports groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the campaign against former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama which led to his conviction and jailing for blasphemy.
2. With the exception of the National Mandate Party (PAN), all of the political parties that make up the government’s ruling coalition in the DPR support the Perppu. The Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) and the “opposition” parties the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) oppose the Perppu while the Democrat Party is yet to make its position known.
[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the article was Polling di Akun Twitter DPR RI Tanggapi Perppu Ormas Menghilang, Netizen Curiga.]
