Trump, Iran, and the Sunni-Shia Conflict Issue

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia’s public space has been heated by a screenshot that mentions Donald J. Trump and has since been declared a hoax. Its content is provocative.

It states that Indonesian Sunni Muslims are hypocritical and inconsistent: previously hostile towards Shia, now supporting Iran because it is confronting Israel and America.

However, in the social media era, truth often arrives too late compared to emotions. The narrative has already circulated, sparking debates and even causing anxiety among certain groups.

In the current post-truth era, what matters is not always the facts, but what the public believes to be facts.

At this point, the issue is no longer just about who wrote it and whether it truly originated from him.

The more important issue is how to respond to the narrative that has gone viral, especially when the emerging polemic links two highly sensitive matters for Indonesian Muslims: religious identity and geopolitical conflict.

The narrative presents an accusation of “hypocrisy” in a simple way, but it is precisely because of its simplicity that it is dangerous.

The question is, is the Indonesian Muslim public truly undergoing a 180-degree change in attitude, namely a conversion of creed orientation from Sunni to Shia? Or is what is actually happening something far more complex and mature in viewing today’s global conflicts?