Human Security: Playing Our Role in This Digital Era

By Clara Felicia Mahasti

The world could be represented as a human body. Any problem occuring in a certain part of the body spreads and affects the entire affected individual. Let us imagine there are cancer cells developing in one of our organs. That problem may seem minor at first, since it has not affected another area of our body. However, these cancer cells will evolve into severe disease if we neglect it for a long period of time.

The same thing goes for our world. One issue that happens in one part of the world can affect others. Wars and pandemics are two of the examples. Overlooking what is happening around the world and refusing to get involved in the betterment of it will only make things worse. We can no longer address the human security issues as ‘yours’ or ‘theirs’, but ‘ours’. Just because we have not witnessed an issue, that does not mean it does not exist.

Not all of us are capable of being frontline healthcare workers during a pandemic or to arrest human traffickers. On the other hand, it goes without saying that being apathetic and taking no action is not the answer. In terms of contribution, we need to keep in mind that a little step is better than none.

The digital era gives us plenty of ways to connect with the world. Simple things such as spreading information or awareness about an issue, signing online petitions, and donating to a charity can be considered as contributions.

Another question may appear in our mind regarding the examples mentioned above. Is the internet reliable enough to be our facilitator of participation? If yes, how does it work? We cannot only rely upon people’s contribution through the internet to deal with the issues going around us, for sure.

Nevertheless, online social movement can be beneficial due to its ability to rapidly approach people around the world. Let us take a look at one example: in March 2020, an Indonesian male named F. Rozieqin Fen created a petition on an online platform called ‘change.org’ regarding a political security issue and attracted 20.000 participants within a month.

The petition was opposing the detention of an innocent farmer who was implicated in causing a wildfire in Pekanbaru, Indonesia. In this case the signers of the petition use their power to fight for justice by simply sliding fingers on their device screen. Yet, their journey does not stop there. According to the latest news regarding this case, the victim was released soon after the petition was published.