Why are there so many moral panics in indonesia today

The first stage is the perception of someone or something being a public threat, followed by the spreading of the perceived threat by the mass media in simplistic ways that quickly catches the attention of the greater public. The third stage is the aroused widespread of the perceived threat by the public media, which is then followed by a response to the threat by policymakers and the authorities, and lastly the final step is effecting a social change that is in line with the legislature previously proposed by the policymakers in response to the perceived threat (Young, 2009). Interestingly, it is also important to note that moral panic is always focused on marginalized people in society on the basis of class, religion, sexuality, ethnicity and even race.

This focus always borrows from the existing stereotypes about a particular marginalized group and reinforces them into real fears. Consequently, the stereotypical fears that cause moral panics always differ from one country to another given the fact different countries have different marginalized groups. This minority with unique sexual orientations is currently facing the consequences of the fears that have been generated as a result of their existence in Indonesia. They fear that soon there may be vigilante groups specifically going after them and this may worsen their current problems (Ridwan and Wu, 2018). There have been so many arrests of lesbians, and the gay people and most politicians have asked for legislation to illegalize same-sex relationships, and they have also recommended that people with same-sex relations be detained and rehabilitated.

The politicians have also gone to the extents of publicly encouraging several mosques to conduct sermons that condemn same-sex relationships. Through the above actions, the Indonesian politicians have successfully created a moral panic from the disapproval of the LGBTQ community by the Indonesian citizens (Subhrajit, 2014). Contrary to the issue of the LGBT community that has been factored in moral panics in Indonesia today from a social perspective, the issue of fake news in Indonesia is the other factor that could be blamed for moral panics from an economic perspective. Fake news threatens democracy in one way or the other through political tensions that may result in readership traffic in specific media platforms (Kriel, 2018). Fake news seems to have resulted in perceived fears from the Indonesian people due to the fact that it has resulted in some political tensions in the past.

Indonesia has been marred with recent incidences of domestic terrorism among other political tensions such as those that oppose Christianity, communism among other issues. In relation to this, it is vital to mention that media houses in Indonesia have recently published articles claiming that certain leaders have communist ties or other ties that are against the ideals of the country. In mid-2018, a Cambodian who was working closely with some Thai nationals instigated a stream of fake news about the president of Thailand. These people owned an online media platform and by spreading allegations that the president was dodging the issue of high fuel prices in the country, the readership of the platform increased, despite the moral panic that resulted from it.

From the above discussion, it is clear that there are economic opportunities that corporations are competing for globally, and the media corporations in Indonesia are not an exception to this. Due to such competition, it is therefore clear that the increase in moral panics in Indonesia is caused by the rise in moral entrepreneurs in the media industry too. Immigration. The moral panic that targets immigrants fosters racism and xenophobia. These are two phenomena that champion the exclusion of foreigners, and in most cases, this always benefits the natives of a particular country. The moral entrepreneurs, in this case, are individual people who are aiming at certain benefits or positions that are occupied by immigrants. When the Chinese governor in Indonesia was being targeted because of communist background, there are xenophobic and racist politicians who wanted his position as governor.