NU congress told to strengthen NU's role in digital competition

Jakarta, NU Online

One of the topics that will be raised at the NU 34th Congress in Lampung is about strengthening the NU's role in digital competition. This event is considered important because it will determine the direction of NU in the next five years, including the steps of this religious social organization in utilizing the digital space.

 

On this stand, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Information and Communication (Kominfo) Dedy Permadi encouraged NU members (Nahdliyin) to be able to use the digital space positively and productively in such sectors as economic, social, cultural, and so on.

 

"NU has a very large capital to be able to use digital space in a positive and productive way. For example, for economic, social, and even cultural interests," he said in the Congress Talk entitled Digital Independence and NU's New Role in Digital Competition on Youtube TV9, Wednesday. (15/12/2021).

 

Furthermore, Dedy explained, related to economic interests, for example, NU is capable of empowering people by utilizing digital space for economic growth. Such as maximizing the potential of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) activists through social media or e-commerce.

 

"There are only 13 million or less than 20 percent of MSMEs that are digitizing. This means that there are still 80 percent of MSMEs that can take advantage of this digital space," added Dedy.

 

Regarding social interests, Dedy gave an example that NU members could use digital space for social and cultural interests. Such as by spreading unity and the principle of multiculturalism on social media. As an appreciation, Dedy called the Nusantara Santri Information Flow (AIS) team as influencers from creative young NU circles.

 

In addition, Dedy also said that during the current Covid-19 pandemic, the digital space should be a medium to revive sectors that had weakened. This is because the digital-based sector is still surviving, with evidence of positive growth for three consecutive quarters in 2020 and cumulative growth of 10.58 percent.

 

"This shows that even during the Covid-19 pandemic, there are still opportunities in the digital space," said Dedy.

 

The digital era challenges

On that occasion, Dedy also explained that although the digital space opened up wide opportunities for positive things, it still has challenges with the negative impact of the media itself. "This digital space is like a double-edged sword, there are positive and negative sides," he said.

 

According to him, the positive side is that digital space can be used for social, cultural, economic benefits, and so on. On the other hand, the negative side is the widespread distribution of negative contents in the digital space, such as digital fraud, cyber bullying, and the spread of radicalism.

 

In turn, the TV9 CEO Hakim Jayli said, if NU was only a spectator in the midst of such digital challenges, then there are two challenges that will threaten the existence of the digital space. The first is the dominance of the narratives of radicalism and intolerance and the second is about deviant national issues.

 

"NU digital media must be used to fight for nationality, universal religious (values), and peace," said Hakim.

 

Contributor: Muhammad Abror

Editor: Sudarto Murtaufiq