Social Media and the New Face of Santri’s Political Communication

The world of santri is closely related to politeness and obedience to kiais or people who are considered having a great social or scientific status. The presence of technology has made it easy for the santri to access unlimited information. As a consequence, they turned into an open-minded and knowledgeable society. On the other side, the presence of technology has brought new problems because of which the new generation is no longer following the tradition of madzhab in knowledge transmission and cultural transformation. This intellectual generation no longer adopts politeness and maturity while seeing the truth claim only from others’ points of view. Related to this problem, this paper is to discuss the political discourse among the santris in Pamekasan Maduraas taking place in social media related to their political attitudes. It will also explore how social media has an impact on determining the political choice of the santris. Using a qualitative approach, this paper will examine the political discourse among the santris through their social media activities such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and others. This study found that the santri’s political communication has no longer maintained politeness and obedience to the political choice of their kiais. The social media has resulted in the disappearance of politeness and obedience as shown in their activities in social media. They now become independent in their political choices.