Why Do The Majority Of Indonesian Netizens Support Russias Invasion Of Ukraine And Admire Putin Page All
SURABAYA, KOMPAS.com – Talks about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on social media for nearly two weeks have been dominated by the Indonesian public’s partiality and admiration for Russia and the figure of President Vladimir Putin, according to digital monitoring and analysis platform Evello.
This attitude was formed because, according to the agency’s study, it was based on the dislike of most Indonesians towards the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
However, a researcher in Russian and Eastern European Studies, International Relations Universitas Airlangga (Unair) Surabaya, Radityo Dharmaputra, assessed that the public attitude that was pro-Russian rather than Ukrainian was actually due to the public’s lack of understanding about Ukraine.
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This condition causes the public to be easily consumed by the dominant narrative from the elite and academics who consider this issue a geopolitical conflict between Russia and the United States.
Data obtained by Evello – a digital monitoring and analysis platform – on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube in the period from February 23 to March , there was an increase in the attention of social media users in Indonesia on the Russia-Ukraine war.
This is indicated by the number of news articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine which reached 96,000 news articles.
Tens of thousands of such news, said the founder of Evello Dudy Rudianto, was shared 1.6 million times on the Indonesian Facebook network, either through Facebook pages, groups or personal accounts.
From these data, Evello concludes that the intensity of attention of Indonesian social media users regarding the Russia-Ukraine war is very high.
“In addition to news articles, YouTube is a reference for finding information on the Russia-Ukraine war,” said Dudy Rudianto to Quin Pasaribu who reported for BBC News IndonesiaMonday (14/3/2022).
In more detail, Evello’s data shows that information about the Russian military attack on Ukraine broadcast on Indonesian YouTube has been viewed 554 million times with conversations reaching 2.3 million comments.
Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine war Instagram video has been viewed 72 million times with 727,000 comments.
Then on the TikTok video, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also been viewed 526 million times.
As for Twitter, there are 22,000 accounts that talk about this war.
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Three attitudes public Indonesia over the Russo-Ukrainian war
Dudy Rusdianto said that there were at least three attitudes that netizens showed towards the Russian military attack on Ukraine.
“First, the dislike of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States. Second, the admiration for the figure of President Vladimir Putin, and finally the sympathy for the Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelensy,” said Dudy.
However, from the four social media platforms studied, starting from Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, the majority of netizens tend to side with Russia.
Dudy gave an example on Twitter, the number of accounts talking about President Putin was 71 percent greater than Zelensky.
The conversation that surfaced on Twitter, continued Dudy, was based on distaste for NATO and the West.
Talks about President Putin, he said, were very dominant or reached 94 percent of TikTok users in Indonesia.
“Similarly on Instagram, the tendency of social media users to talk about Putin tends to be dominant compared to Zelensky by 74 percent.”
Evello’s monitoring, conversations over the Russo-Ukrainian war are natural. The users who expressed their support for Russia and Putin were not driven by buzzers or fake accounts.
“No account bot scattered,” said Dudy.
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Why are Indonesian netizens siding with Russia?
Researcher for Russian and Eastern European Studies at International Relations Universitas Airlangga (Unair) Surabaya, Radityo Dharmaputra, said there are four factors why Indonesian netizens are pro against Russia.
For a long time, he said, the Indonesian public had an anti-US or anti-Western political stance, especially after the war on terrorism.
However, when social media was not yet popular, not many showed this attitude openly, such as demonstrations.
“Now in the era of social media, as soon as there is news, it’s easier to feel feelings and express them immediately,” explained Radityo to Quin Pasaribu who reported for BBC News IndonesiaMonday (14/3/2022).
However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was portrayed by the Indonesian public as Russia against the United States or NATO.
“Ukraine is so unimportant.”
Such conditions, explained Radityo, make it seem as if the Indonesian people are siding with Russia. In fact, according to him, no matter who opposes the United States, it will be supported.
“So the support (to Russia) is more there. The feeling that the US and the West have been arbitrary, especially to Islamic countries. So, if anyone dares to fight the US and the West, they (the Indonesian public) support it.”
The second factor is the figure of President Vladimir Putin who is considered firm.
The Indonesian people, according to Radityo, are easily impressed by the appearance of a firm and strong leader because it reminds him of former President Sukarno.
“Moreover, the romance with Sukarno’s past, which was firmly anti-Western, was very dominant. Image Putin looks like that in the eyes of the Indonesian people. After all, he’s a former intelligence officer. As for Zelensky, comedian.”
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Another thing, driven by religious sentiment.
Although in the past the Soviet Union had attacked Afghanistan, Syria, and Chechnya, now Russia–through public diplomacy–is able to change the view from enemy to friend of Muslims.
In Russia, he said, Islam is the second largest religion after Orthodox Christianity. Mosque buildings were erected in many places.
“This is seen by Islamic groups in Indonesia.”
“That’s why there are many videos or articles in Indonesian which have millions of viewers and think Russia is a partner for Islamic groups.”
Finally, Russia’s public diplomacy provides scholarships to hundreds of students to study in that country.
What is interesting, he said, is that the narrative developed by the graduates of the scholarship recipients regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine is exactly the same as the Russian government.
“That what Russia is doing is only a military operation. That shows the partiality of the position.”
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Worse, the pro-Russian analysis was swallowed up by the Indonesian people. Moreover, the knowledge of the Indonesian public about what lies behind the Ukraine-Russia conflict is very minimal.
To note, tensions in the region were also triggered by Russia’s stance in recognizing the independence of two regions in Ukraine, namely Luhansk and Donetsk.
“So it’s easy behind the narrative and very easy to think this is just a major geopolitical conflict between Russia and the United States.”
“If the narrative at the elite and academic levels is like that, you can imagine it Dong below who do not understand what it looks like. Consumed by the dominant narrative.”
The popularity of the Russian Embassy from Ukraine, according to him, also supports the Indonesian side.
Radityo refers to the followers of the Russian Embassy in Indonesia account @RusEmbJakarta and the conversational interactions are bigger than the Ukrainian Embassy @UKRinINA.
“Until there is a war, it is very easy for public sympathy to be given to those they know or know better.”
The Indonesian people are branded hypocrites
For Radityo, the non-uniform attitude of the Indonesian public in defending the victims of the invasion–as happened to Palestine–has an impact on the loss of moral legitimacy as a nation.
“We can’t say much anymore because we are hesitant when faced with this situation and our society is very easy to change its position because of the presence of the US.”
More than that, the position of the Indonesian people in the eyes of the world seems hypocritical. This is because the public will tend to care if the victims of oppression are Islamic groups.
“If not (Islamic groups), the impression is not supportive. This is a bit worrying.”
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