Digital-Based Communication Facilities in Increasing Public Participation in Government Policies

Abstract

Public participation is closely related to the concept of openness, namely the opening of communication spaces between government and society. Without openness, it is impossible for the community to participate in achieving good governance and social welfare. Public participation is a constitutional right for citizens as regulated in Article 1, Article 28 E, Article 28 F of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. The public sphere functions as a forum to accommodate public participation, which has shifted to digital. This study aims to see the level of public participation in government policies and see the availability of digital public space by the government in Indonesia. The research method uses a mixed-method between qualitative and quantitative, with a survey method. The results obtained are that the government's provision of public space in the form of social media is very high served by Ministries and the provincial communication and information office. The government's response rate in disseminating its public policies through Ministry social media and the Provincial Communication and Information Office are also high. However, public participation in government policies is inadequate. Therefore, community involvement is a necessity in order to ensure the effectiveness of a policy.

Keywords: public communication, public participation, government policy, society, digital based communication