Political Communication Practice of Cipayung Student Organization Kupang-NTT Province

This study aimed to determine the practice of political communication carried out by the Cipayung student organization in the city of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Province. The research method used is qualitative with a case study approach. Data collection techniques in this study were in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. Interviews were conducted with five key informants who are representatives of five organizations. The results of the study show that the practice of political communication carried out by the Cipayung student organization in the city of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Province, is implied through rhetorical messages in the nuances of a Political campaign that aims to build mutual understanding/agreement which will be strengthened through formal talks in meetings/political assembly in order to produce certain political decisions/attitudes. A number of things took place during the use and development of political communication strategies practiced by the various student organizations in their capacity as pressure groups. The various aspects include the construction of political messages, the choice and use of political communication media, the implementation of the political communication function, the obstacles faced in political communication


INTRODUCTION
social class structure, which is marked by the emergence of a new working class and a broad middle class so that it becomes a new social force that demands their involvement in power. ongoing politics, (3) Widespread distribution of ideas/information related to egalitarianism, democracy, nationalism, and others, driven by intellectuals and modern mass communication (Cap & Okulska, 2013).
The mass media plays a role in disseminating ideal political ideas that transcend space, across national boundaries, so they become new knowledge that ultimately moves the political awareness of the world community. The rise of colonial countries/third world countries against colonialism is a concrete proof of the success of democratizing political knowledge which has spread to various parts of the world, (4) Conflicts of political interest which are preconditions for the efforts of political elites to find a basis for legitimizing interests through participation in community support. This situation, at the same time, forms the political awareness of the community regarding their right to political participation, and (5) The involvement of the government in various life affairs among the grassroots (community) has resulted in the emergence of the will of the community to be involved in making political policies because the political decisions that the government will determine are closely related to the interests of their future destiny (Klinger & Svensson, 2015).
Parameters of good political participation in a political community are, for instance, (1) availability of political public spaces that become the locus of communication between political participants in developing and consensus joint opinions which will later become considerations for the government in making public policies and 2) Smooth ongoing political communication between government administrators and the public. Communication is actually the pulse for the continuity of political activity. David Easthon (1988) in Manyo (2022) conceptualizes the political system as the relationship between the input aspects (demands and support) that are communicated to the government to serve as the basis for the formulation of outputs (political decisions and actions). The public's response to the implementation of public policies will be a new input for the government to be followed up in making relevant policies. The relationship between the government and society in such a political system continues uninterruptedly through continuous political communication.
In the Indonesian political context, young people (students) have a big role in determining the direction and goals of Indonesian political life. The Indonesian student movement can be understood as student activities, both internal and external to the campus, which are carried out in order to improve leadership competence as well as a form of contribution to the struggle of the people for the good of the Indonesian nation and state. Students become a layer of educated society who have the opportunity to receive higher education. The younger generation at that time was finding their identity, innocent, and oriented to ideal truth values. Therefore, students become relatively sensitive persons and care about various social problems around them, especially on the practice of injustice and the suffering of life. From these conditions, students are encouraged to make social and political changes for the good of living together (Widianingsih, 2017).
The role of students in echoing the aspirations/demands of the community is a group that determines the direction and form of social change. The depth of examining problems, sensibility to lame reality, and idealism are representations of the student's personality. Students are the subject of unique political participants, as Lewis Coser concludes that students are intellectuals, people who never seem satisfied with accepting reality as it is. They question the truth that applies at one time in relation to a higher and wider truth (Ulfa et al., 2021). The student movement (educated youth) is often regarded as the forerunner of Indonesia's national awakening. The political movements of the educated, among others: Budi Utomo (1908), the Indonesian Association (1925), the Indonesian Student Association (1926), the Indonesian National Union (1927), the 66th Generation which succeeded in overseeing the transition of power transfer from Soekarno to Suharto, the Committee against Corruption (1974) involved in the Malari incident, the 1977-1978 student political dissent movement, to the 1998 student reform movement that overthrew Suharto. In the reform era, student movements were relatively ongoing, including the Tugu Rakyat student movement in 2007 and 2014, the student movement with the 2019 'Corrupted Reform' agenda, to the student movement that rejected the 2020 Omnibus Law (UU Cipta Kerja). Students are to give color to the dynamics of the development of political life in the country.
This underscores that the politics of student practice is an obligation of students in their capacity as agents of social change (agent of change). Through their political activities, students take part in changing the living conditions of the nation and state for the better through the actualization of their critical attitudes and actions. In Al-Zastrouw's view (Ruohotie-Lyhty et al., 2021), the orientation of student routines can be mapped into five patterns, namely: 1) Ascetic-religious groups who have a high religious spirit and are passionate about religious symbols, 2) Professional-individual groups who are active in developing skills certain groups, 3) hedonistic-consumptive groups who like to spend their time for pleasure (rah-rah), 4) proletariat groups involved in advocacy activities and solving various real problems of society, and 5) organizational-activist groups who carry out practical politics through formal organizations. In practice, the most concrete student political activities are student movements that are integrated into student organizations, both intra-university (Student Senate, BEM / BLM, UKM, Campus Press, and others) as well as extra-university (HMI, PMMI, GMNI, GMKI, PMKRI, and others).
Off-campus student organizations generally have a hierarchical organizational structure from the national to the local/regional levels (Tamuntuan, 2022). In the city of Kupang itself, there are many national student organizations and student organizations with a regional (ethnic) pattern. However, the political constellation arena is dominated by the practical political activities of national student organizations because almost most of the student political communication activities (demonstrations/protests) in Kupang City are carried out by student organizations, such as HMI, PMMI, PMKRI, GMNI, and others. From a political perspective, the student organization is categorized as a pressure group, which is an organization that has an agenda to influence the government in making policies related to public issues / public interests.
The functions of the pressure group include: increasing the government's attention on specific issues, advocating for public awareness, conducting political education, balancing public information, and others. For example, Cipayung Kupang student organizations (HMI, PMKRI, GMNI, GMKI, PMII) held a demonstration at the NTT Provincial DPRD office to address the government regarding the adverse effects of the Employment Creation Law, and the PMKRI student organization conducted advocacy/assistance for victims of land disputes in Besipape. , TTS Regency, NTT Province, GMKI student organization conducted socialization related to literacy and gender equality at SDN Tunfeu, Kupang Regency, NTT Province, HMI student organization held a national dialogue with the topic 'Beware of Radicalism and Terrorism' and advocated for the people of Pulau Kera, Kabupaten Kupang, NTT Province, which are threatened with residential relocation, and so on. The success of the role of pressure groups as political actors in a political system is highly dependent on the variables of political communication that they practice, such as the use of appropriate communication media according to the form of political communication to be carried out or the formulation of messages according to the segmentation of the political communication audience.
In this context, the assumption is implied that a number of things take place during the use and development of political communication strategies practiced by the various student organizations in their capacity as pressure groups. Various aspects can then be seen, namely, the construction of political messages, the choice and use of political communication media, the implementation of the political communication function, the obstacles faced in political communication, and the adoption of ICT innovations (Webster, 2012). Starting from these various things, the researcher wants to examine in more depth the dynamics of political communication practices carried out by student organizations in Kupang City in a study entitled: 'Political Communication of Pressure Groups: Case Studies of Student Organizations in Kupang City.' focuses on groups of national student organizations who are members of the Cipayung community, namely HMI, PMKRI, GMNI, GMKI, and PMII. This is solely based on the consideration of the high intensity of political activity organized by the student organization group in its role as a pressure group. The purpose of this study was to find out about the practice of political communication carried out by student organizations in the city of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Province.

METHODS
This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach, which uses a method with a problem-solving procedure that is investigated by describing the state of a person's research subject at the present time based on the facts that appear in the field or as they are (Starman, 2013). This study's types and sources of data consisted of primary and secondary data. Primary data in the form of transcripts of interviews with informants who, in fact, represent GMNI Kupang Branch, GMKI Kupang Branch, PMII Kupang Branch, HMI Kupang Branch and PMKRI Kupang Branch in a large organization called CIPAYUNG. Secondary data in the form of articles, books, and documents related to this research. Data collection techniques in this study were in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation (Creswell, 2007). Data collection instruments included a list of interview questions, documentation in the form of photos, and observations of research sites that produced an overview of the research location.
For the smooth running of this research, information in the form of interview results is very important. Therefore, interviews were conducted with five key informants. The first in Christin Banase, the General Chair of GMNI Kupang Branch for 2021-2023. He is an alumnus of the 2016 Undana Political Science major. Second is Eduard Nautu, the General Chair of the GMKI Kupang Branch for 2020-2022. He is an alumnus of the 2013 Unkris English FKIP major. Third, Muhammad Umbu Alfa Alfino, an Active Member of the PMII Kupang Branch for the 2022-2023 period. Fourth, Fajar Sukarno, the General Secretary of the HMI Kupang Branch for the 2020-2022 period. He is a 2016 student majoring in Law at Muhammadiyah University. Fifth, Yohanes Mone, the Chair of the Kupang Branch of the PMKRI Presidium for 2022-2023. To support this research, the data analysis used uses an interactive model from the theory of Miles and Huberman. The process includes collecting data, reducing data, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions (Sugiyono, 2016). The research process, from collecting field data to compiling the results of this study, took place over three months, namely from July 1, 2022, to September 1, 2022.

Overview of Research Sites
There are four methods in political communication: 1) Informative method in the form of message content that aims to persuade audiences by supplying information in the form of facts, data, and opinions. Informative political communication does not merely convey political messages to audiences but also intends to direct audience perceptions to build public opinion as expected by political communicators. 2) Persuasive Methods in the form of messages that aim to persuade audiences by cultivating the audience's psychological dimensions, especially emotions, and mind. Audiences are not conditioned to think analytically and critically. Instead, they are influenced unconsciously. The communicator deliberately creates certain situations/conditions in advance and then gives suggestions to the emotions and thoughts of the audience. The success of this method is highly dependent on the skill of the political communicator in suggesting something to the public. 3) Educative Method which aims to influence audiences through political statements containing opinions, facts, and experiences. Unlike the persuasive method, this method permits audiences to think analytically and critically about the political messages they receive. With the independence of the audience in processing the political information they receive, the awareness that will grow within the audience is not something that the communicator intentionally conditions/suggests, but is truly based on the results of the audience's thinking. 4) Cursive Method which aims to influence audience attitudes and actions through coercion (domination).
Political messages conveyed in the form of normative policies/regulations/programs inevitably have to be followed up by the public. Disobedience to such political messages will be overshadowed by legal sanctions (Ardial, 2010). Specifically, political communication has several functions/objectives. The first is forming a political image. Political communication messages also influence audiences in organizing their evaluation of the political environment around them as well as having certain perceptions of certain political figures, certain political groups/organizations, and certain political systems. Political image is intertwined through subjective thoughts and feelings that will provide an assessment and understanding of certain political events (Nimmo, 2000).
The second is forming public opinion / general opinion. Public opinion is a public attitude towards various issues that concern the public interest. Public opinion can refer to (a) opinions, attitudes, feelings, predictions, stances, and expectations of individuals, and groups in society regarding issues related to public interest / social issues, (b) results of interactions, discussions, or social judgments between individuals based on a conscious and rational exchange of thoughts, c) public opinion can be developed, changed, and formed by the mass media, and d) can be carried out by adherents of democratic views (Arifin, 2003).
The third is promoting political participation. Political participation can be interpreted as the complexity of the activities of citizens who act individually or collectively to influence government decision-making/policy, which is supposed to be carried out either spontaneously or in an organized manner, continuously or sporadically, through peaceful or violent means, and is legal or illegal in nature. Political participation can be in the form of (a) Interest aggregation function. In this function, there is a process of merging interests to then be formulated and distributed to power holders or governments who hold power and are authorized to make public policies and (b) Interest articulation function. In this function, there is a process of synthesizing the aspirations of individuals as group members in the form of ideas, opinions which are then used as patterns and political programs (Huntington, 2003).
The fourth is organizing political socialization. Political socialization is a process of developing a person to acquire political orientations and behavior patterns (Easthon and Dennisis, 1969). The audience internalizes the value of information obtained from political communicators which will influence changes in political knowledge and understanding. Fifth, political communication also functions as political education, which refers to all efforts to instill, change or maintain a political value system or political orientation by activating the process of attitudes, behavior, thinking systems, individual views / political community. Finally, sixth, political communication also functions as political recruitment, namely the process of acceptance and regeneration carried out by certain political organizations. Political recruitment aims to increase the form of individual (citizen) political participation by way of involvement as a member of a political community The formation of the 'Cipayung Group' stems from the existence of the KAMI group, which was officially formed in 1966 in a revolutionary manner. The establishment of the WE group was not planned in advance. Its emergence was based more on student solidarity in responding to the dynamics of Indonesian politics at that time. This student action was born because the Indonesian Student Union Association (PPMI) and the Indonesian Student Council (MMI) disbanded due to the G.30.S/PKI incident in 1965. After the meeting and discussion, there was a desire for the student group to hold a formal meeting in order to formulate a common attitude and strengthen cooperation for the future. This meeting has a theme, namely 'Indonesia that we aspire to', held on January 21 to 22, 1972, in Cipayung, West Java. That meeting gave birth to the 'Cipayung Group' and January 22 was commemorated as the day of its birth. The meeting of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cipayungs has a formidable challenge because the government accommodates and leads mass organizations into a place that has been prepared by the government.
One of the single forums was created by the youth sector government was the Indonesian Youth National Committee (KNPI), on July 23, 1973. This indirectly affected the existence of the Cipayung Group mass organizations as stated by the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud), Syarif Thayeb who said that students are part of the youth and therefore must merge into the KNPI. However, the Cipayung Group mass organization responded to this stance, namely placing KNPI as one of the youth organizations with the same status as the existing mass organizations. In this sense, KNPI has the legal status of an organization like the Cipayung Group. However, the government continues to put pressure on the Cipayung Group mass organizations to merge into this single container. Student protest demonstrations continued in various cities, one of which was the 'Malari Event' on January 10, 1974. The event involved a large role from student groups, especially the Cipayung organization. With that incident, the Minister of Education & Culture at that time, Syarif Thayeb issued Decree Number 028/U/1974 (popularly known as SK 028) which placed all student activities on campus under the effective control of the Chancellor. However, this government policy did not affect the death of the student organization and the political movement of the Cipayung Group. At the 3rd meeting from January 23 to 25, 1976, PMII (Indonesian Islamic Student Movement) officially became part of the 'Cipayung Group'.
The existence of Cipayung Group continues to exist today. This is evidenced by the formation of Cipayung in the regions. Actually, the Cipayung organization is more of a collaborative movement among student organizations at the national level, consisting of PMKRI, HMI, GMNI, GMKI, and PMII. So the existence of the Kupang Cipayung Group is a consequence of the dynamics of the National Cipayung Group movement. PMKRI, HMI, GMNI, GMKI, and PMII organizations have regional representatives, so they automatically join the local Cipayung Group.

The Form of Political Communication of the Cipayung Kupang Student Organization
The pressure group is one of the political actors who participate in the success of political participation. They are part of the elements of society that are involved in forming political policies, exercise political control, provide political education, channel the aspirations of citizens, and so on. A pressure group is a civil society that grows, develops, and acts based on the public interest (Pan, 2022). In carrying out their functions and duties, pressure groups cannot be separated from political communication activities because communication should be the pulse of politics itself. Without communication, it is impossible for political activity to take place properly. In the case of channeling political aspirations, for example, it involves the delivery of political messages through certain communication channels or demonstration activities marked by the ability of political actors to speak in front of audiences (rhetoric).
The Cipayung student organization as a pressure group is identical to political communication activities in carrying out their duties and functions. Their political communication can vary, including political education, socialization, propaganda, and consolidation. In Kupang City, the Cipayung group consists of 5 national-level student organizations: GMNI, HMI, GMKI, PMKRI, and PMII. So far, the student organization has carried out various forms of political communication, both per organization and jointly, under the banner of the Cipayung group. Actually, from year to year, this student organization has many agendas for political communication activities and not just one. This fact is revealed through an assessment of the results of the study of each student organization that each year, there are a number of forms of political communication they have carried out.
The problem is that the political communication of student organizations in the public's mind only focuses on the demonstration agenda (Bos et al., 2022). Meanwhile, student organizations' demonstrations are often violent, involving acts of violence, destruction of public facilities, and so on. Such stereotypes are slightly refuted through a series of facts that other forms of political communication are more persuasive, diplomatic, and elegant. Fajar Sukarno, General Secretary of HMI Kupang Branch, explained that HMI itself has scheduled and carried out political communication in the form of political education for the public: "Political education carried out by HMI, for example, in the context of facing general election contestations. We carry out political education activities for the public/constituents to be able to be wise in choosing future leaders. We deliberately planned this because we are concerned with the reality that our people in NTT do not yet have sufficient political knowledge of the correct general election mechanism or related to the profiles of the candidate leaders they will elect. Actually, we run political education every year and even it becomes a routine agenda that has been set in our organization." (Interviews were held on September 10, 2022) Political education is a form of political communication that is intended to provide a number of knowledge and understanding for the community regarding various public issues, such as general elections, poverty and welfare distribution, discrimination/social violence, social conflicts, and other matters relating to common interests. Political education has an output in the form of the formation of public awareness so that they can then decide and act properly and correctly regarding their obligations and rights as political people.
With adequate political understanding, the public can participate in political affairs wisely. Thus, HMI and other Cipayung student organizations in Kupang City feel the need to organize political education for the NTT public. HMI's concerns regarding holding elections in NTT, which are overshadowed by the practice of money politics and identity politics, have encouraged them to conduct political education for the community. This is because elections based on money interests and primordial sentiments will only give birth to incompetent leaders. Political contestation in NTT is not far from the practice of haphazard politics, such as identity politics based on religion and ethnicity/ethnicity, as well as money politics (Anggoro et al., 2022).
In this activity, the Kupang Branch of PMKRI organization participated in seminar activities by contributing ideas related to Human Rights and Ecology in the context of cases throughout NTT. The educational activities held by the Cipayung Kupang group were not only about politics but also touched on other social issues, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, which are rife in NTT. As the student organization GMKI Kupang Branch facilitated a one-day seminar with the theme: 'Strengthening Awareness of the Dangers of Drugs for Youth' in 2020. Resource persons from the Kupang City National Narcotics Agency also included testimonies of life stories of drug users. The participants of the activity are students and youth in Kupang City, with the hope that this educational activity will be a provision for them to be aware of the dangers of drugs. GMKI Kupang Branch initiated this activity considering that the geographical location of NTT borders Timor Leste and Australia, thus triggering the potential for significant drug trafficking.
In 2018, GMKI also held interactive discussion activities related to human trafficking issues. The activity with the theme: 'Attitudes and Strategies for Combating Human Trafficking in NTT' was deliberately initiated by GMKI Kupang Branch, considering the high number of human trafficking practices in NTT. The political communication carried out by the Cipayung Kupang student organization in the form of political education is not only intended for the wider community. Still, it is also intended for the benefit of strengthening the capacity of the internal members of their respective organizations. As political actors, they must be equipped with adequate knowledge capacity to be ready and alert to participate in political affairs.
Knowledge will raise their self-awareness as political actors who fight for the interests of society. In addition, before they fight for their common interests, certain knowledge and skills are sufficient for them to understand what they want to fight for and how to follow up / solutions that can be offered. Therefore, the Cipayung Kupang student organization also organizes capacity-building activities for the internal members of their respective organizations. As stated by Yohanes Mone, one of the PMKRI members who explained the importance of political education activities for his internal organization: "Political education within our organization is facilitated by Bawaslu or the KPU regarding efforts to prevent/avoid identity politics and money politics. We routinely conduct briefing and coaching activities for our internal members by involving related parties. For example: related to elections, we invite sources from Bawaslu or KPU, pertaining to social problems in NTT, we invite speakers from social observers/campus academics, and others. If we are equipped with knowledge related to the things above, we will then pass it on to the community. We fight for the public interest, but we must also be equipped with sufficient understanding to further develop and educate the public regarding the implementation of a good political life." (The interview was conducted on September 9, 2022) In line with the statement above, Christine Banase, Chairperson of GMNI Kupang Branch explained the activities of education and human resource development for members of her organization: "There are many activities carried out by GMNI Kupang related to the educational process within the organization. For example, making studies and establishing advocacy organizations which are considered important because in them, we learn how to identify, analyze, and provide solutions to the various problems we are fighting for. GMNI's organizational development activities include leadership training, journalism training, seminar activities, and others. So far, GMNI has focused on learning how to conduct studies to be independent in responding to various social problems in NTT." (Interviews were held on September 11, 2022) Both PMKRI and GMNI consider it necessary to schedule HR development activities for members of their respective organizations. For these two organizations and other student organizations of the Cipayung group, it is important to improve their organizational skills so that it becomes a provision for them to carry out their duties and functions for the community. Every year, the Cipayung student organization organizes Cadre Leadership Training (LKK). In PMKRI itself, LKK activities are one of the organizational cadre development activities. Candidates for PMKRI cadres must go through several internal coaching procedures, starting from the New Member Admission Period (MPAB), Guidance Period (Mabim), LKK, Regional Study Conferences (KSR), and National Study Conferences (KSN). These five activities are part of PMKRI's formal education activities. Formal education activities are mandatory activities that cadres must pass as organization members.
Meanwhile, there are also non-formal education activities organized by PMKRI in the form of secretarial training, advocacy training, and others. This non-formal coaching activity is not mandatory for cadres and is usually not routinely carried out depending on the policies of each organization. For other Cipayung organizations, the form of educational activities for cadres is more or less the same. Only the names of activities, stages, and implementation mechanisms differ. The eyes of political education activities for internal organizations are relatively diverse, among them, the HMI Commissariat of FISIP Undana held journalistic training activities for cadres for three consecutive days in 2017. This activity aims to sharpen and develop the journalistic abilities of the cadres of HMI FISIP Undana.
In addition to carrying out the function of political education, the Cipayung Kupang student organization also carries out activities to convey opinions/aspirations in public. From the political communication perspective, this activity is part of the function of political communication, namely rhetoric. Every year, student organizations regularly hold rallies to express their aspirations related to various social issues at the national and local levels. Each student organization has an agenda for demonstration activities, but sometimes demonstrations are held together with other student organizations that are members of the Cipayung Kupang group. Muhammad Umbu Alfa Alfanino, an active member of the Kupang Branch of PMII, recounted the demonstration activities carried out by the organization either independently or together with other Cipayung group organizations: "We from PMII have been holding demonstrations to highlight various social issues at the national and NTT levels. Usually, we take action ourselves, or we coordinate with other Cipayung organizations so that we can take part in demonstrations together. When we go down together, we will agree on a field coordinator who will lead us. Still, in conveying our aspirations, we take turns to represent the aspirations of our respective organizations. That was, before we came down, we had a discussion among us about seiya -a word. We are united in conveying our aspirations and being more orderly when we walk the streets. If it's a national issue, we usually go down together, but if it's a local issue, it depends on the agenda of each organization. For example, some time ago, we went down together to protest the omnibus law policy that has been implemented by the central government, also about the governor's violation of the pandemic period prokes during activities on Semau Island, and about the government's plan to increase fuel prices." (Interviews were held on September 12, 2022) In 2021, student organizations that are members of the Cipayung Kupang group staged a demonstration in front of the NTT Police Headquarters to urge the police to thoroughly investigate allegations of Prokes violations committed by the Governor of NTT, Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat, and his staff when holding the Inauguration of the Regional Financial Access Acceleration Team (TPAKD). The Cipayung group considers this activity to violate various existing healthcare regulations. In their speeches, they explained that the Governor of NTT as a regional leader actually They urged the police to investigate the violation. They also asked for clarification and an apology from the Governor of NTT for violating a number of these regulations. This year, the Cipayung Kupang group again held a demonstration against the central government's increase in fuel prices at the NTT Provincial DPRD Building. The activity to convey this aspiration caused a riot between the demonstrators and the police. Still, in the end, the representatives of the group members were able to hold an audience with the council members. Throughout the year, the student organization of the Cipayung group routinely conducts demonstration activities and orations in public spaces regarding various social issues related to the community's interests. Some of the problems that are often aspired by the Cipayung Kupang student organization include the issue of human trafficking, poverty, violence and discrimination, mining and the environment, corruption of local elites, and others.
Furthermore, the form of political communication activities carried out by the Cipayung Kupang organization is a political campaign. Political campaigns are a form of communication activity to gather public sympathy, strengthen political support, or raise public awareness regarding political discourse and other social issues (Rahmawati & Rasyid, 2020). The campaigns that are often carried out by the Cipayung Kupang organization are in the form of delivering political appeals/statements through mass media, social media, and other publication media. Christin Banase, Head of GMNI Kupang Branch, explained that the organization has routinely conducted political campaigns, especially related to urgent social issues. GMNI generally intends campaign activities to raise public awareness regarding certain political issues: "So far, GMNI Kupang has been conducting political campaigns related to social issues as well as issues that the public has virally discussed. In addition, GMNI also campaigns for the values and ideology of the organization, especially to increase the organization's members' awareness so that they can embody the values and ideology of GMNI in each of their political struggle activities. We also do campaign activities through social media." (Interviews were held on September 13, 2022) Ahead of the National Awakening Day, May 20, 2016, PMII and GMNI invited the people of NTT to campaign for the spirit of unity and integrity of the Republic of Indonesia. Through their political statements and attitudes, the two members of the Cipayung Kupang student organization group intend to raise public awareness of NTT to maintain a sense of nationalism and patriotism as citizens. The invitation for this campaign came from their reflection on the phenomenon of national disintegration that is taking place today. This political statement was published by local online media, NU Online.com. The form of political campaigns was also carried out by GMKI Kupang Branch in the form of a declaration of holding peaceful elections. This campaign activity is one of the agendas in the Talk Show and Declaration with the theme: 'Strengthening the Role of Election Organizing Institutions', which took place on April 10, 2019. This activity was facilitated by the NTT KPU, NTT Bawaslu, NTT Police, and NTT Prosecutor's Office by involving religious elements, the Cipayung Kupang organization, campuses, and youth.
Likewise, the joint campaign activities were carried out by GMKI on November 24, 2015. This political communication activity which involved 13 institutions, including GMKI Kupang, carried out the 16 Days National Campaign Against Violence Against Women. This political communication activity of GMKI Kupang was carried out with the Kupang Women's House Institution, PIAR NTT, Nasdem Secretariat, Kupang City Government (Women and Children Empowerment Section of Kupang City), GMKI Kupang Branch, Tafena Tabua Association, Kupang City AJI, Unity in Diversity Alliance, IRGSC, Nasdem Smart Lopo, Viktorynews Daily Media, Jpit, and Alfa Omega. On another occasion, the Cipayung organization conducted campaigns through other communication media, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and others.
Within a year, student organizations that are members of the Cipayung Kupang group schedule organizational activities to be carried out. The activities include political communication activities that will be carried out by the organization. Each organization has a different communication agenda depending on the program priorities and policies of each organization (Jelahut et al., 2021). However, the basic forms of political communication carried out by organizations are more or less the same. Sometimes there is a scheme of joint political communication activities carried out by involving collaboration between organizations that are members of the Cipayung Kupang group. From the field study, it can be identified several forms of political communication activities are regularly held by the student organization of Cipayung Kupang. They are, first, rhetorical activities. Rhetoric is the art of public speaking to influence the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and actions of the listeners.
Rhetoric/public speaking activities run by the Cipayung Kupang organization through demonstration activities. In this demonstration activity, there are orations brought by members of certain organizations in order to voice their aspirations addressed to certain targeted parties. This form of political communication is also carried out in order to raise public attention to the issues/discourses raised. Demonstrations are a routine agenda for the Cipayung Kupang organization, both independently and in collaboration with other Cipayung Kupang organizations. Aristotle, the famous Greek philosopher, classifies rhetorical activities into three types, namely: (a) Deliberative rhetoric intended to influence public policies. This rhetoric is focused on the advantages/disadvantages if a policy is decided/implemented, (b) Forensic rhetoric related to court decisions, and (c) Demonstrative rhetoric aimed at developing discourse in a praising/blasphemous tone.
Of these three rhetorical activities, generally the demonstration activities of the Cipayung organization belong to the types of deliberative and demonstrative rhetoric. In deliberative rhetoric, the political messages conveyed by the Cipayung Kupang organization are relatively related to government policies/programs that do not favor the people's interests. Government policies related to mining and the environment, the increase in fuel prices, and the Omnibus Law, among others, are examples of government policy discourses/issues raised as topics of speech by the Cipayung Kupang organization. The narrative of conveying aspirations includes argumentative statements regarding the negative impact of certain policies/programs implemented by the government. Not only that, but the narrative statement of position is also supported by empirical data to strengthen the basis for the legitimacy of the political statements that are voiced. Interestingly, the political statement of the Cipayung Kupang organization was wrapped in a symbolic/parodic form that blasphemed the intended parties. This can be seen from the speeches' content, including mockery and even insults. The activity of symbolizing political statements was also carried out through burning tires, reading poetry, and short theatrical performances.
In this case, their demonstration activities fall into the classification of demonstrative rhetoric, which is Demonstrative Rhetoric which aims to develop discourse in a praising/blasphemous tone. Rhetoric aims to find the truth, not just an empty word game without meaning and purpose. The truth expressed must be logical, realistic, and rational. Political communicators who use rhetoric must be competent in three aspects, including ethos aspects related to the credibility and intelligence of communicators who speak certain topics, pathos aspects related to the communicator's ability to manage audience emotions, and logos aspects related to the communicator's ability to provide rational information for each statement submitted. Because political statement oration is an art of communication and has certain strategic techniques, each Cipayung Kupang organization prepares its cadres to have competence in carrying out demonstration activities, especially skills in oration stating political statements. This commitment is shown by scheduling various training activities and self-capacity development, especially with regard to public speaking skills. This capacity-building activity is usually carried out during the initial coaching period for new cadre members. Demonstration activities carried out by the Cipayung Kupang organization in the context of aggregating and articulating public interests. The Cipayung Kupang organization absorbs various public aspirations/identifies various socio-political issues to be voiced to other interested parties, such as the government, law enforcement officials, the private sector, and so on-second, political education activities. Political education refers to all efforts to instill, change or maintain a political value system or political orientation by activating the process of attitudes, behavior, thinking systems, and views of individuals/political communities. Political education aims to influence audiences through political statements containing opinions, facts, and experiences. The Cipayung Organization carries out political education activities as a routine agenda for their respective organizational activities. These include seminars, scientific discussions, open forums, and others that describe knowledge transfer activities to the public. The Cipayung organization consists of active students who are currently undergoing higher education. That means political education activities are also part of their intellectual activities in enlightening the public regarding certain social issues/discourses.
As a group with a good knowledge capacity, especially regarding good political knowledge and understanding, they should carry out community service activities through the organization that houses them. What is unique about the political education carried out by the Cipayung Kupang organization is that the substance of political education is very relevant to the socio-political conditions around it. Various themes of political education relate to social problems that are being faced by society. Generally, political education activities permit the public to think analytically and critically about the political messages they receive. With the independence of the audience in processing the political information they receive, the awareness that will grow in the public is not something that is intentionally conditioned/suggested by communicators, but is really based on the audience's thoughts. In this case, political education is not limited to providing the public with a number of knowledge. Even with the existing knowledge, the community can be stimulated to think critically and fight for the common interest. Third, Public Relations Politics (PRP). PRP is the management of a positive image to create a good and sustainable relationship between political systematically and validly in order to reach a representative and relevant solution. This is done by the Cipayung Kupang organization in the form of organizing intellectual activities of the organization.

Political Communication Constraints of the Cipayung Kupang Student Organization
In practice, political communication carried out by the Cipayung Kupang organization also faces certain obstacles. A number of such obstacles hinder the process of political communication to take place effectively and successfully. In general, the political communication obstacles faced by the Cipayung organization consist of 2 forms, namely: intentional obstacles and unintentional obstacles. Deliberate obstacles related to the substance of the issues raised by the Cipayung Kupang organization. In fact, not all parties responded positively to the social-political issues/problems communicated by the Cipayung Kupang organization.
Organizational political communication activities often encounter resistance in the form of repression (violence). This can be seen in the acts of threats and harsh treatment of cadres who are carrying out their political communication activities in the field. In addition, acts of intimidation also take place when organizations carry out political communication activities through ICT media. The educational and political consolidation activities carried out by the Cipayung Kupang organization through social media actually received unwarranted resistance from social media buzzers.
The goal is to hinder the organization's political communication process, to break the spirit of the cadres' struggle, and to deliberately lead public opinion regarding social issues/problems communicated by the Cipayung Kupang organization. The forms of response from these buzzers include: attacking organizational privacy, bullying, attracting audience attention, and presenting counter-narratives to divide public opinion. The fragmentation of public views related to social issues/problems communicated by the organization comes from the people's attitude. The public had previously been compartmentalized in longstanding political, practical interests. This obstacle hinders the Cipayung Kupang organization's education and political consolidation.
The public is apathetic to various social issues that are being fought for by the organization's cadres. This condition is a portrait of 'natural' in today's local political culture. Another form of unintentional obstacle to political communication is financial resources. Political communication is a routine agenda of the Cipayung Kupang organization, whose implementation requires financial support. As a non-profit organization, the Cipayung Kupang organization does not have adequate financial resources to finance its various communication activities. This obstacle is usually solved by various fundraising activities. Limited operational funds have caused the Cipayung Kupang organization not to carry out much political communication activities.
It is also difficult for the Cipayung Kupang organization to anticipate during its political communication activities, namely the differences in views and attitudes among the Cipayung organizations regarding certain social issues/problems. This means that social issues raised by one or several members of the Cipayung Kupang organization are often not supported by other Cipayung Kupang organizations. Of course, this disharmony affects the level of solidity/cohesiveness among the Cipayung organizations in voicing public aspirations.
Such differences do not only occur between organizations that are members of the Cipayung Kupang group. Internally, a Cipayung student organization also has relatively disagreements regarding the priority of the themes to be fought for. Actually, this condition is a dynamic that often occurs between Cipayung organizations and in the internal environment of each organization. This happens when an organization that upholds the value of freedom of expression will have consequences on the cohesiveness between them. Although the Cipayung Kupang organization has a number of obstacles in carrying out political communication activities, so far, it has not limited their freedom to voice their political aspirations. They are free to use various communication channels to convey their political messages.