Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Early this year, the Ministry of Communication and Information in Indonesia have received public complaints related to inappropriate contents under the account of @alpantuni on Instagram in favor of showcasing the LGBT life. Under the Indonesian Information and Electronic Transactions Law 2008, the account had the indication of showcasing pornography, therefore the content should be taken down. Further, the Ministry had also sent their request to Instagram to suspend the account. The conflicting values of being gay and Muslim in Indonesia have been a matter that should not be put in public. However, through social media platform, exposure regarding becoming LGBT can be easily produced and distributed, and also publicly accessible. This study aims to explore the series of @alPantuni’s comic strips on Instagram, by applying visual and textual analysis to understand the discourses which have been displayed through its 29 comic strips. The analysis relies on the context of political and socio-cultural contexts of Indonesia, where the issues on LGBT are still a sensitive topic of conversations within the society. In addition, being gay and Muslim may have triggered the religious sensitivity in the country. Moreover, this study also proposes the challenges of the Indonesian pluralism values in the era of social media.