PERAN PUBLIC FIGURE TERHADAP PARTISIPASI POLITIK MASYARAKAT DI MASA PANDEMI COVID-19 (Studi Deskriptif Pasangan Nina Agustina Da'i Bachtiar dan Lucky Hakim Pada Pemilihan Kepala Daerah Kabupaten Indramayu Tahun 2020) - Ruspandi, - (2021)
Pelaksanaan pilkada di masa pandemi Covid-19 mengakibatkan antusiasme masyarakat untuk merealisasikan partisipasi politiknya menjadi lesu. Di satu sisi, partisipasi mayarakat Kabupaten Indramayu pada pesta demokrasi seperti pilkada begitu penting, karena berpengaruh terhadap legitimasi seorang penguasa dan jalannya suatu pemerintahan. Maka keikutsertaan selebritis sebagai public figure pada kontestasi politik diharapkan menjadi pendorong antusiasme masyarakat untuk merealisasikan partisipasi politiknya. Dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif sehingga peneliti memberikan gambaran secara natural dan faktual. Dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan dalam upaya meningkatkan partisipasi politik masyarakat, public figure dominan menggunakan popularitas keselebritisannya, sehingga popularitas menjadi perangsang bagi masyarakat untuk merealisasikan partisipasi politik. Namun masyarakat dalam merealisasikan partisipasi politiknya, dibangun dengan pondasi yang rapuh juga goyah, karena terkait riskan dengan budaya politik parokial, karena kuatnya unsur yang mendominasi kesadaran dalam masyarakat, berakibat terjadinya penggiringan opini suara publik yang berdasar popularitas. Berdampak pada praksis pilkada yang belum mengarah pada pencerdasan masyarakat, dan menegaskan pseudo domocracy terjadi dalam struktur sosial dan politik suatu bangsa. Keikutsertaan selebritis sebagai public figure pada kontestasi politik selain berpotensi meningkatkan partisipasi masyarakat karena popularitas menjadi perangsang politik, tetapi realisasi demokrasi menjadi semu karena popularitas telah mendominasi kesadaran dalam masyarakat, mengakibatkan kecerdasan politik masyarakat sulit berkembang, sebab tidak berdasar pada kapasitas tetapi kepada popularitas. Kata Kunci: Public figure, Popularitas, Partisipasi Politik, Diskursus Politik, Demokrasi Semu ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF THE PUBLIC FIGURE TOWARDS COMMUNITY POLITICAL PARTICIPATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC (Descriptive Study of the Pair of Nina Agustina Da'i Bachtiar and Lucky Hakim in the 2020 Regional Head Election of Indramayu Regency) The implementation of the regional elections during the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the enthusiasm of the community to realize their political participation to be sluggish. On the one hand, the participation of the people of Indramayu Regency in democratic parties such as the Pilkada is very important, because it affect the legitimacy of a ruler and the running of a government. So the participation of the selebrities as public figure in political contestation is expected to be a driving force for public enthusiasm to realize their political participation. In this study using qualitative methods so that researchers provide a natural and factual description. This study shows that in an effort to increase peoples's political participation, the dominant public figure uses the popularity of his celebrity, so that popularity becomes an incentive for people to realize political participation. But, in realizing their political participation, the ecommunity is built on a fragile foundation that is also shaky, because it is associated with risks with parochial pilitical culture, because of the strong element that dominates awareness in society, resulting in the occurrence of popular opinion-based public opinion. It has an impact on the praxis of local elections that have not yet led to the intelligence of the people, and emphasizes that pseudo democracy occurs in the social and political structure of a nation. The participation of celebrities as public figure in political contestations has the potential to increase public participation because popularity becomes a political stimulant, but the realization of democracy becomes false because popularity has dominated awareness in society, making it difficult for people's political intelligence to develop, because it's not based on capacity but on popularity. Keywords: Public figure, Popularity, Political Participation, Political Discourse, Pseudo Democracy