Now in 2016, social media is a part of life and the most influential factor in communication, promotion, and education, for example Instagram. Instagram, as media social, has strong bearing in many aspects especially for a country which has various and diverse cultures such as Indonesia. Unfortunately, Indonesia has not had yet an official site in Instagram from the government which administrates the diversity of culture from Sabang until Merauke. Whereas the advantages that can be gained by the government in maximizing Instagram, for instance, 1) easing to promote local culture (traditional food, dance, and song) to foreign country, 2) avoiding a conflict of claim and plagiarism about culture with other countries, and 3) simplifying young generation of Indonesia to explore Indonesian cultures.
Through Instagram, the user can watch and share some videos or photos. Thus, in this context, Instagram can be a media for Indonesia to promote local culture to foreign country. Moreover, because of easy access in Instagram such as watching short video, this way can trigger many tourists to come to Indonesia to learn Indonesian cultures, for example, a tourist desires to learn how to make a Batik. Another advantage is increasing devizen of Indonesia. Therefore, this movement can be a first step to improve economic of Indonesia by maximizing social media especially Instagram.
Every single country has numerous characteristics. That is the reason why plagiarism and claim of culture often happen, for example, Reog is claimed by Malaysia, song of Bengawan Solo is claimed as a creation of Dutch person, and Gamelan, a traditional music of Java, is claimed by Malaysia. Consequently, publishing Indonesian cultures by Instagram are held especially to decrease this case because many users can see what characteristics are Indonesia had. Furthermore, uploading a traditional culture in Instagram can strengthen the nationalism of Indonesian people to protect the cultures, and show the identity of Indonesia. This is in line with Charless Lead better, he said “You are what you share”. This is the step that should be considered by the government to preserve Indonesian cultures, and show various Indonesian characteristics.
Indonesian cultures can be plagiarized and claimed by other countries because the intention of young generation in Indonesia to learn traditional culture fades away and the sources to explore Indonesian cultures are limited. Although, Indonesian youth can collect some sources about Indonesian culture in YouTube, to access YouTube is too costly. Moreover, not all regions in Indonesia have strong connection to surf in YouTube. Accordingly, to ease Indonesian youth recognizes Indonesian culture, the government should maximize another social media such as Instagram. In Instagram, most of the users are still young and the Indonesian Youth does not require to spend expensive charge to access, collect information, and watch video of Indonesian culture. This is great solution that should be implemented by the government to pass on Indonesian culture to young generation.
Apparently the functions of social media, such as Instagram, is not only narcissism but also it can be used for a country to endorse the culture to foreigner, protect the culture from plagiarism, and reinforce the knowledge of young generation about Indonesian culture. Those objectives can be achieved if the government creates an official account in Instagram which coordinates all various cultures in Indonesia. Soekarno said “let other countries envy with what Indonesia has, I leave so much wealth for this country to shake the world”, so promoting culture in social media is first step to shake the world.
Rio Laksamana Prastya, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
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