Performing the nation online: Multimodal government communication and the visual politics of Indonesian identity

Hasanudin

doi:10.67490/ijlc.v1i3.1013

Authors

Hasanudin Universitas Islam Negeri Profesor Kiai Haji Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.67490/ijlc.v1i3.1013

Keywords:

digital government communication, Indonesian identity, multimodal discourse analysis, nation branding, visual politics

Abstract

Background: Indonesia's official digital communication increasingly performs national identity through multimodal arrangements of image, caption, logo, color, place, institutional voice, and platform format rather than through verbal policy messages alone. Objective: This research examines how Indonesian government and state-linked online channels construct, standardize, and circulate national identity across official visual-symbolic, cultural, territorial, and digital-governance materials. Method: Using a qualitative multimodal critical discourse design, this research analyzes 23 publicly accessible official digital items through a multimodal identity grid, a visibility hierarchy matrix, and a platformed government performance protocol. Results: Heritage, tourism, and cultural diversity formed the dominant assemblage, indicating that national belonging is most often made recognizable through curated places, landscapes, cultural motifs, museums, and regional heritage. Official visual systems and territorial-developmental narratives translated nationhood into standardized symbols, downloadable guidelines, Independence Day themes, and spatial imaginaries of Jakarta, Nusantara, and national progress. Digital citizenship appeared through literacy, safety, and child-protection frames, while participation remained institutionally bounded through polling, reuse, and campaign interaction. Implication: These findings show that online nation-making functions as controlled visibility, where diversity is displayed, standardized, and circulated through official platform infrastructures. Novelty: This research contributes an integrated framework for analyzing multimodal government communication as platformed national performance online.

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