Personal Statement Goldsmiths

Politics and communication are my two main favorite issues that I have been learning since I
took International Relations as a major in university. Besides the classroom, I also participated
in a lot of political events such as joining a model united nations to debate with other students
from other universities and I got to make an event about interfaith dialogue to talk with other
young people coming from various places discussing the true meaning of ‘Bhinneka Tunggal
Ika’ as in unity in diversity in Indonesia. Those moments gave me confidence and insight to
later be a tv journalist for more than six years now.
Working in a media is a blessing. Not only you get to see a variety of backgrounds of people
but also experience the diversity of knowledge. When I entered my fourth year at Metro TV in
2016, I was assigned to exclusively cover The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. I became
a part of The State Palace Press Team for more than two years and got to witness every political
decision made by the President and his cabinet. During that time, I realized how crucial to have
a strategic political and communication process especially with the development of digital
platforms in today’s fast-changing world. Through the years, I always find politics and
communication are dynamic and inspiring because of several reasons. First, it gets into
everyone’s daily decision of life. Second, it changes the way people think and behaves to each
other. Last but not least, it becomes a prominent way to reach out to change public opinion.
I remember three years ago, my office told me to cover a long mass demonstration of a Moslem
religious group who went against the former Governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaya Purnama
known as Ahok, over the allegations of the blasphemy. The whole nation was polarized in
arguing whether he should be punished or not. The presence of social media seemed to make
it even worse because there was a lot of propaganda and fabricated news adding fuel to the
case. It got capitalized by certain hard-line Moslem groups and last thing I know they even
went to boycott some mainstream media including Metro TV and accused them of being biased
in reporting the news. In fact, the effect of the blasphemy case went further to 2019’s
presidential election where the incumbent, President Joko Widodo, was left with no choice
other than saved his Islamic credentials by being paired with a hard line Muslim cleric Ma’ruf
Amin as his running mate. These problems have shifted our political discourse from discussing
ideas to accusing each other based on either religion or ethnic.
As a political journalist, it is no longer easy to cover these issues only by presenting facts when
many just want to read and hear what they want to believe. Some named it as the Post-truth era
while for me is an irony because we live in this rapid innovation of technology but people
hardly know how to see the difference between the product of qualified journalism and those
who were being created by unreliable source. Moreover, it has been a well-known phenomenon
that the easiest trick to create political chaos in Indonesia is by weaponizing the religious
narrative and it is still happening despite the 20 years of democratization. The nation’s political
debate is trapped into superficial matters rather than actually discuss substantial issues such as
economic growth, finance technology, digital policy, and the quality of health and education.
These are the public interest that should have been addressed.
Now with the world become more populist, I wonder what would be the future of our global
political conversation. What needs to be done when certain populist groups imposed their idea
of living to other minorities? How should the government approach in order to serve the true
voice of people in this era of the digital platform? In terms of Indonesia, I want to conduct
research on the role of social media in the rise of politized Islam. Because I think it is essential
to have a better understanding of the way they use their populist political communication and
examine their key message when it comes to engaging with other people.
To make this idea of research possible, there is no better place than Goldsmiths University of
London. As one of the leading and foremost universities in the United Kingdom, Goldsmiths’s
reputation is impeccable particularly its courses and experts. After I explored the Department
of Media, Communication and Cultural studies in Goldsmiths through online observation and
had a discussion with the alumni, I found my research question has something in common with
the latest book written by one of the excellent Goldsmiths’s professors, Mr. Aeron Davis.
Through his book on ‘The Death of Public Knowledge’, I experienced a very stimulating
process of thinking and also discovered a different approach as he analyzed how the
improvement of digital technology does not go in line with the use of public services facilities
in broadcasting, education and libraries. Apart from that, I also interested to take part in
Professor Davis’s class on the structure of contemporary political communication. I strongly
believe the comprehensive and progressive module in Goldsmiths’s political communication
program will bring more perspectives into my research.
In the other hand, after completing my study in Goldsmiths, I am planning to apply my

knowledge to work as a political consultant in research and public affairs companies like
Royston Advisory and Bower Group Asia in Indonesia. Their scope is challenging because
they are working directly with politicians, government, business, media, and civil society. For
example, providing advice and assistance to clients regarding the political and economic
situation both in national and district level, develop a communication plan to improve client’s
performance, maintain key government relationship through public policy analysis and
regulatory monitoring. I have been offered the job several times and I am confident through
my experiences with Goldsmiths, I will give a better contribution to my future career especially
in the field of research and strategic communication.

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Politics and communication are my two main favorite issues that I have been learning since I

In the other hand, after completing my study in Goldsmiths, I am planning to apply my

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