UGM students Absherina Olivia Agatha (Cultural Anthropology), Adinda Dwi Safira (Cultural Anthropology), Riqko Nur Ardi Windayanto (Indonesian Language and Literature), and Arif Akbar Pradana (Historical Sciences) conducted research on the negative sentiments between Indonesia and Malaysia as part of the PKM-RSH under the guidance of Dr. Aprillia Firmonasari.
Riqo said the research aimed to see the negative sentiment that often occurs in the relationship between Indonesia and Malaysia. Based on a Google Trends search, the negative sentiment of the two countries has continued to increase over the last five years (2016-2021). Some words that emerged in the result were indon, indonesial, malingsial, ganyang Malaysia, and so on. It is a concern because Indonesia and Malaysia are two allied countries.
They also conducted research using the latest ethnographic method, netnography. The research team observed and explored social media using social media analysis, one of which was Twitter. In addition, online questionnaires and interviews with Indonesian citizens in Malaysia and Malaysian nationalities in Indonesia were also used.
“The research showed that there is a tug-of-war between negative sentiment and the media,” he said in a release received on Tuesday (21/9).
Riqo said that negative sentiment was not a problem that suddenly appeared. Besides being found on social media, mass media also indirectly perpetuates negative sentiment. Many news stories use the phrase ganyang Malaysia for the title. This is where pseudo-nationalism occurs or a sense of nationality based on conflict. The conflict between the two countries in the past was also the cause.
By revealing these negative sentiments, this research offers the idea of cultural reconciliation. Culture should be a tool to improve relations between both countries so that it does not depend solely on political-diplomatic efforts. This reconciliation was carried out by referring to the concept of cognate countries. In practice, we can trace cultural similarities, hold festivals, and internalize cognate concepts. Apart from the PKM-RSH, this research will also be presented at the upcoming November 2021 national conference, which will be organized by Tular Nalar.
Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/21707-mahasiswa-ugm-teliti-sentimen-negatif-indonesia-malaysia
