The first session of the Summer Course program for the Department of Political and Governance Sciences was held on Monday, August 15, 2022, at 14:00 WIB with the theme “From Grass Root Activism to Disinformation: Social Movement In Southeast Asia.” This session presents five speakers who are experts in their fields. They are Wijayanto, Ph.D (Lecturer of the Department of Political and Governance Sciences FISIP Undip); Damar Juniarto (Executive Director of Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network (SAFE Net)); Rosalia Sciortino, Ph.D (Associate Professor, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol Uni); Prof. Didik J Rachbini (Director, LP3ES & Rector of Paramadina University); Prof. Budi Setiyono, S.Sos., M.Pol.Admin., Ph.D. (Lecturer of the Department of Governance Science of Diponegoro University & Vice Rector III of Diponegoro University).
In his presentation on “Digital Activism, Social Movements and Resistance to Democratic Regression in Southeast Asia”, Wijayanto said that there are many factors that can enliven democracy. However, many factors can kill democracy, not a single factor. At times, economic crises can lead to the end of democracy, and so can prosperity. Furthermore, in his material about “Challenges on Protecting Digital Activism in Indonesia”, Damar Juniarto explained that Digital Activism is related to the fulfillment of basic digital rights. They are the right to access the internet, the right to express oneself freely, and the right to security in cyberspace.
Meanwhile, Rosalia Sciortino raised the theme “Civil Society Financing Failure in Southeast Asia”. In her presentation, he explained 5 Factors that contributed to the “choking” of civil society finances: Reshaping international aid spending globally and regionally; Paradigm Shift in philanthropy; Lack of appreciation of civil society and advocacy work among local donors; Greater government control over the flow of funds to CSOs; COVID-19. Then Prof. Didik continued his presentation on the “Political Economy & Development of Indonesia & Southeast Asian Countries”. He said, Southeast Asia, especially ASEAN, is one of the largest economies in the world with medium and high economic growth.
The first session of the Summer Course program of the Department of Political and Governance Sciences closed with a presentation by Prof. Budi Setiyono who brought the topic of “Digital Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia: A Systematic Literature Review” and a question and answer session.
