Haedar: Uphold Noble Values When Using Social Media
Yogyakarta (ANTARA) – Muhammadiyah Central Board chairman Haedar Nashir has urged everyone to use social media while upholding the noble values of religion, culture and the Indonesian nation.
“This means that social media use should be guided by high ethical standards, distinguishing what is right from wrong, good from bad, and appropriate from inappropriate,” Haedar said in Yogyakarta on Monday.
He said that what matters for all people, regardless of their religion, group, ethnicity, race or age, is civility, and that everyone must uphold it.
“Using social media with a high degree of civility is not merely a conventional appeal from religious leaders. It is a call rooted in our humanity, because human beings are fundamentally civilised,” he said.
Haedar added that the Communications and Digital Ministry’s removal of various forms of social media content, or other material related to the digital sphere, should be respected, since democracy has limits, rules and laws.
“I am confident that the Communications and Digital Ministry acts with a strong sense of responsibility in doing so. That means being objective and transparent, and addressing anything that could disrupt our national life,” Haedar said.
Muhammad Sayuti, secretary of the Muhammadiyah Central Board, said social media use was increasingly tending towards negative behaviour, including spreading hoaxes and hatred, vilifying others, provoking disputes, inflaming issues, attacking one another and fostering hostility. These trends, he said, could create conditions for complex social conflicts to grow.
He said everyone should therefore use social media responsibly as a space for positive activity and for expanding knowledge, information and other productive pursuits.
“Social media must not become a trigger for social conflict that damages togetherness and national unity. Noble morals and good character are needed online so that its use does not become unrestrained, without clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and bad, and appropriate and inappropriate,” he said.