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Milenial Islami: Digital education campaign to promote critical thinking in learning Islamic values

04 Dec 2019

Milenial Islami: Digital education campaign to promote critical thinking in learning Islamic values

Project leader: Ms. Ayu Kartika Dewi

Level of education and university: Short Course, Deakin University

Collaborating Organisations: Pesantren Salamul Falah Cianjur

Project Location: Jakarta, DKI Jakarta

Activity Type: Public awareness campaign

Sector: Education and training, conflict resolution

Project Rationale:

As the country with the biggest Muslim population in the world – approximately 87% of its inhabitants or 230 million people are Muslim’s – Indonesia is very prone to Islamic extremism. SETARA Institute stated violations of religious freedom increased from 134 in 2014 to 208 cases in 2016. Moreover, there were 270 acts of religious intolerance in 2016, rising by almost 100 incidents in just a span of two years. Given these concerns, Indonesia is under a serious need to rediscover the meaning of peace between people of different beliefs.

The situation is worsened with the ever-increasing popularity of social media, which sadly has a very weak control system when it comes to extreme religious contents. In 2017, a research published by PPIM-UIN stated that 85% of Indonesian youth has access to the Internet/social media, from which ~55% youth reported that it is where they learn about religion (compared to books (49%) and TV (34%)). Unfortunately, in Indonesia, among the most popular websites and religious figures' YouTube channels are the ones who promote intolerance and hatred towards other religions. Hoax and hate speeches are the most common forms of negative narratives that are rampant in social media, because most Indonesians are lacking critical thinking skills, making them unable to filter the information received. Considering all these conditions, we believe that teaching the youth on how to embrace Islamic values with critical approach is an absolute necessity.

Project Beneficiaries:

  • The main beneficiaries of our videos are Indonesian youth ages 15-25 who are using social media.
  • The videos - that will be distributed through various social media channel

Priority Development Area:

Human development for a productive and healthy society

Link with Australian organisation

Deakin University

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